GASbufeldl 


—  o 


H  fetor  y  df  the  Chicago 
artesian  w/ell. 


0112  08678887 


ttis  600^  has  been 
digitized  through 
the  generosity  of 

Robert  O.  Blissard 
Class  of  1957 


1 


University  of  Illinois  Library  at  Urbana-Champaign 


OF  TOE 

-     ■ 


"3&SF 


HISTORY 


THE  LIBRARY  0f|  Tff 

JUN  *4  19$: 

UNIVERSITY  OF  lljjikbiS. 


A  DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE  TRUTH  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL 

PHILOSOPHY:   WITH  AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  ORIGIN 

AND  USES  OF  PETROLEUM. 


BY  GEO.    A.    SHUFELDT,  JR. 


FIFTH      EDITION, 


CHICAGO: 

Rellglo-Philosophlcal  Publishing  Association  Print,  64  Dearbern  Street. 


I860. 


«*V-  aft-*^*  -^^^•*3&**3&r*&**&^'*T&r~.-- 


PRICE,   25    CENTS. 


CHEMICAL  ANALYSIS 


OF   THE 


Chicago,  December  -27th. 
Mr.  Shffeldt  : 

Dew  Sir:  I  send  herewith  the  result  of  a  chemical 
examination  of  the  sample  of  water  which  was  transmitted  to  me  by  you, 
as  coming  from  the  Artesian  Well.  A  gallon  of  this  water  holds  71  7:2-100 
Troy  grains  of  solid  mineral  substances  in  solution.  They  consist  mainly 
of  carbonate  of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia,  with  smaller  proportions 
of  sulphate  of  lime  and  sulphate  of  magnesia,  chloride  of  magnesium,  very 
little  chloride  of  sodium,  and  traces  of  alumni  and  silicic  acid. 

Owing  to  the  mineral  ingredients  which  it  contains,  it  deserves  the 
name  of  a  ("  temporary")  hard  water.     I  found  it,  contrary  to  the  prevail- 
ing opinion,  free  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen.      It  is  beautifully  clear  and 
transparent,  and  therefore  most  admirably  adapted  for  drinking  purposes. 
I  am  yours,  very  respectfully, 

Dr.  F.  MAHLA,  Practical  Chemist. 


Copies  of  this  History,  price  25  cts.,  also,  Photograph 
copies  of  the  picture  "  Emancipation,"  the  largest  pencil 
drawing  under  glass  in  this  country,  and  of  the  Artesian 
Wells  Mammoth  Ice  House — the  originals  of  which 
were  executed  through  the  mediumship  of  the  under- 
signed— can  be  had  by  addressing 

J±.     JAMES, 

Box  2070.  Chicago. 


HISTORY 


OP   THE 


CHICAGO  ARTESIAN  WELL, 


A  DEMONSTRATION  OP  THE  TRUTH  OP  THE 


This  Edition  of  this  History  contains  an  account  of 
the  successful  boring  of  the  Second  Well— with  a  diary  of 
the  mechanical  part  of  the  operations,  and  some  other 
matters  of  general  interest.  Each  future  edition  will  con- 
tain accounts  of  the  general  progress  and  development  of 
the  work. 


«»»■ 


IRE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

JUN  24  m> 

CHICAGO:        DIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS. 

RELIGIO-PHILOSOPniCAL  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION. 

1866. 


CHEMICAL  ANALYSIS 


OF   THE 


«®ma  win  wat«, 


Chicago,  December  27th. 
Mr.  Shufeldt: 

Dear  Sir:    I  send  herewith  the  result  of  a  chemical 


drawing  under  glass  in  tnis  country,  ana  01  ine  artesian 
Wells  Mammoth  Ice  House — the  originals  of  which 
were  executed  through  the  mediumship  of  the  under- 
signed— can  be  had  by  addressing 

J±.     JAMES, 

Box  2079,  Chicago. 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


CHICAGO  ARTESIAN  WELL, 


A  DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE  TRUTH  OP  THE 


SPIRITUAL  PHILOSOPHY, 


"WITH 


AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  ORIGIN  AND  USES  OF  PETROLEUM. 


4  »  » 

BY  GEO.  A.  SHUFELDT,  JR. 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

JUN  24  m> 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


CHICAGO: 

RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION. 

1866. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/historyofchicagoOOshuf 


r  THE  LIBRARy  OF  THE 

JUN  *4  m, 

IMIVutoii  (if  ILLINOIS. 

PREFATORY. 


This  work,  as  a  Spiritual  demonstration,  has  become  known 
throughout  our  entire  country,  and  a  great  degree  of  curiosity 
has  been  manifested  to  learn  the  manner  in  which  the  revelation 
of  the    existence   of   water    and   oil   beneath   this   ground  was 

\  made.  To  gratify  in  a  measure  this  curiosity,  and  to  contribute 
— only  a  mite  perhaps — to  the  great  mass  of  facts  now  rapidly 
accumulating  in  support  of  the  truth  of  Spirit  communion,  the 
following  details  are  given.     They  are  vouched  for  by  the  writer, 

j  so  far  as  his  personal  knowledge  goes;  and  those  matters  of  which 
he  is  not  cognizant  are  testified  to  by  reliable  witnesses  to  that 
extent  which  admits  of  no  possible  contradiction.  It  has  here- 
tofore been  a  common  practice  to  sneer  at  and  ridicule  such  new 
truths  and  developments  as  were  not  comprehended  by  the  ordinary 
understanding  of  men ;  but  it  will  not  do  in  this  day,  and  after 
the  demonstrations  of  the  Steam  Engine,  the  Locomotive,  Hoe's 
Press,  the  Magnetic  Telegraph  and  the  Telescope,  to  repudiate 
anything  for  the  single  reason  that  it  is  new  and  not  generally 
understood.  There  are  things  in  Philosophy  and  Science  every 
day  revealed  which  cannot  be  laughed  down  nor  sneered  out  of 
existence ;  and  with  all  due  respect  to  the  men  of  learning  and 
the  wise  ones  of  the  world,  I  venture  to  suggest  that  this  fact  of 
the  Spirit  communion  is  one  of  that  class.  The  daily  accumula- 
tion of  proofs  is  too  great,  the  mass  of  testimony  in  its  favor  is 
too  strong,  to  permit  any  mere  passer-by  to  laugh  it  down ; — like 
Banquo's  ghost,  "it  will  not  down  " — but  is  ever,  with  its  simple 
philosophy,  with  its  Divine  justice  and  morality,  rising  upward 
and  marching  onward;  numbering  its  followers  by  millions; 
attracting    the   simple   and   lowly  of  the  world  as  well  as  the 

84  k*3 


11 


learned  and  the  great;  uprooting  Atheism,  Deism  and  Panthe- 
ism; it  destroys  that  skepticism  and  infidelity  to  God,  which 
have  cast  so  many  shadows  on  the  natural  religion  of  man. 

The  facts  detailed  in  the  following  pages — "The  History  of 
the  Chicago  Artesian  Well" — are  given  and  intended  as  mere 
links  in  the  great  chain  of  proofs,  to  demonstrate  the  reality  of 
the  Spiritual  communication.  The  revelation  of  the  existence 
of  water  and  oil  underneath  this  ground,  where  geologists 
declared  they  did  not  exist,  and  the  proof  of  the  truth  of  that 
revelation,  by  actual  boring  into  the  ground,  the  result  of  which 
can  now  be  seen  by  all,  in  the  perpetual,  never-ending  flow  of 
this  splendid  fountain,  is  the  great  fact  to  which  we  point,  as 
conclusive  proof  of  the  matters  which  are  here  alleged. 

It  was  sometime  in  the  summer  of  1863 — in  July  or  August — 
two  gentlemen  from  Maine,  Mr.  Thos.  J.  Whitehead  and  Mr.  A. 
E.  Swift,  visited  Chicago  on  private  business  of  their  own.  They 
were  strangers  here,  ignorant  of  Chicago,  its  soil,  surface  and 
surroundings,  and  bent  wholly  upon  matters  foreign  to  the  subject 
and  substance  of  this  narrative. 

These  gentlemen  happened  to  be  of  the  Spiritual  faith, 
and  met  many  times  in  a  circle  formed  by  themselves,  Mrs. 
Caroline  Jordan,  a  writing  medium,  and  Mr.  Abraham 
James,  hereafter  referred  to.  The  meetings  of  these  persons 
and  the  holding  of  circles  were,  apparently,  accidental,  and 
without  any  particular  designs  other  than  those  which  usually 
attend  such  gatherings,  and  attention  was  first  attracted  by  a 
communication  in  writing  given  through  Mrs.  Jordan — that  a 
matter  of  great  importance  and  significance  would  soon  be 
made  known ;  and,  in  pursuance  of  this  intimation,  it  was 
shortly  thereafter  written,  with  an  explanatory  preface,  to  the 
effect  that  great  doubts  prevailed  in  the  human  mind  as  to 
the  reality  and  truth    of  the  spiritual  communion,  many  per- 


Ill 

sons  altogether  disbelieving  in  the  existence  of  any  of  the 
alleged  phenomena;  hence,  a  practical  test  or  demonstration 
was  necessary,  in  order  to  remove  these  doubts  and  to  place 
this  fact  beyond  the  possibility  of  cavil  or  dispute ;  and  then 
the  revelation  came:  That  beneath  a  certain  tract  or  piece  of 
land,  near  the  city  of  Chicago,  Petroleum  existed  in  large 
quantities,  and  could  be  obtained  by  the  ordinary  process  used 
for  that  purpose.  And  it  was  further  declared  and  stated 
that  underneath  this  ground  would  also  be  found  a  well  or 
stream  of  the  best,  purest  and  healthiest  water  known  any- 
where, which  would  rush  to  the  surface  with  great  force  and 
power,  and  was  in  quantities  sufficient  to  supply  the  people 
of  this  city  for  all  time  to  come,  and  that  this  water  would 
be  found  and  used  for  that  purpose.  No  very  great  degree 
of  attention  was  paid  to  these  statements  until  after  many 
earnest  repetitions  of  the  same  story  and  a  specific  location 
of  the  land  was  made.  The  medium,  Mr.  James,  was  taken 
to  the  ground,  was  there  entranced,  and,  in  that  state,  selected 
a  point  for  boring  the  first  well ;  and  at  that  precise  spot 
this  well  is  now  flowing  600,000  gallons  per  day  of  the  best 
and  purest  water  in  the  world. 

About  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  these  matters,  my 
attention  was  called  to  it  by  Messrs.  Whitehead  and  Swift, 
but  not  then  understanding  the  object  of  the  communication, 
and  thinking  that  it  was  a  mere  search  after  money,  which 
I  knew  was  never  sanctioned  by  spirits  of  truthful  charac- 
ter, I  declined  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  for  the 
time  paid  no  further  attention  to  it.  But,  as  these  gentle- 
men were  persistent  in  their  efforts  and  evidently  honest  in 
their  faith,  I  was  finally  induced  to  attend  the  circle,  which 
I  did  for  the  purpose  of  learning  more  definitely  the  charac- 
ter of  the    communications   and   the   probable    truthfulness    of 


IV 


the  matters  referred  to — and  here,  for  the  first  time,  I  heard 
this  revelation  in  full,  and  its  objects  and  purposes  explicitly 
stated,  and  being  convinced  that  such  objects  and  purposes 
were  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  great  good,  negotiations 
were  opened  for  the  purchase  of  the  land.  This  purchase 
being  consummated  in  the  month  of  October,  1863,  the  drill 
was  shortly  thereafter  started,  in  pursuit  of  the  facts  which 
had  been  thus  revealed.  The  one  fact — the  water — has  been 
found;    the  other  will  come  in  due  season. 

Many  times  during  the  progress  of  the  work — I  may  say 
many  hundreds  of  times — these  things  were  repeated  and 
insisted  upon  by  different  spirits  through  the  same  medium. 
A  diagram  was  made  showing  the  location  of  the  water,  and 
the  workmen  were  advised  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  it  only 
one  or  two  days  before  it  was  finally  reached.  As  to  the? 
existence  of  oil  beneath  this  ground,  we  who  have  carefully 
watched  the  descent  of  the  drill  and  studied  its  products, 
have  no  doubt  of  the  fact — for  we  see  it  every  day  and  every 
time  the  sediment  comes  to  the  surface.  We  were  told  that 
the  oil  was  to  be  found  in  quantities  below  this  water  some 
fifty  or  sixty  feet,  and,  when  the  proper  time  arrives,  we 
shall  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  or  prove  its 
falsity.  At  present  our  business  is  with  the  water,  and  our 
efforts  are  directed  to  the  one  result,  i,  e.,  to  make  this  the 
largest  and  most  magnificent  fountain  of  pure  cold  water  to 
be  found  anywhere  in  the  world. 

It  has  been,  also,  frequently  stated,  through  the  medium,  that 
the  Petroleum  and  gases  from  this  ground,  and  their  products, 
would  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  illuminating  the  streets  and 
houses  of  this  city,  but  as  this  statement  may  seem  extremely 
problematical  to  many,  I  simply  give  it  as  it  came,  and  leave  the 
future  to  prove  or  disprove  it. 


THE    CHICAGO 


ARTESIAN  WELL. 


A  DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE  TRUTH  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  PHILOSOPHY. 


The  history  of  this  work  may  be  briefly  written  : 

In  December,  1863,  the  boring  was  commenced,  with  a  diame- 
ter of  five  inches.  In  January  following,  the  well  was  lost  at  a 
depth  of  sixty-five  feet  —  the  tools  getting  fast  at  the  bottom. 
Another  was  commenced  in  February,  1864,  and  the  work  pro- 
gressed slowly  and  gradually  until  November,  when  the  water 
was  struck,  at  a  depth  of  seven  hundred  and  eleven  feet.  And 
this  water  is  now  flowing  to  the  surface,  with  a  head  of  about 
eighty  feet.  There  are  no  striking  geological  peculiarities  found 
in  this  boring. 

The  alluvial  formation  or  deposit  around  Chicago  is  about  one 
hundred  feet  in  depth ;  at  this  particular  point,  however,  by  a 
natural  upheaval  of  the  earth's  crust,  the  rock  is  thrown  to  the 
surface,  so  that,  instead  of  sinking  the  usual  soil-pipe,  common 
to  the  boring  of  Artesian  wells,  the  drill  was  started  in  the  rock 
itself  directly  from  the  surface ;  and,  with  a  single  exception, 
the  boring  was  continued  through  the  rock  all  the  way  down 

At  the  surface,  this  rock  is  the  upper  stratum  of  the  upper  silu- 


rian,  the  formation  in  this  part  of  the  State  being  usually  in  the 
Devonean.  The  first  thirty-five  feet  is  limestone,  saturated  with 
and  greatly  discolored  with  petroleum  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
rock  will  burn  as  freely  as  coal ;  and  frequently,  in  blast- 
ing, petroleum  in  quantities  of  one  or  two  gallons  have  been 
thrown  out  with  a  single  charge  of  powder.  Immediately  under- 
lying this  is  a  stratum  of  what  we  call  here  Joliet  marble,  one 
hundred  feet  in  thickness.  This  is  one  of  the  very  best  building 
stones  in  existence,  and  many  of  the  public  buildings  in  Chicago 
are  constructed  from  it.  It  crops  out  at  Athens  and  Joliet,  about 
thirty  or  forty  miles  from  here,  at  which  places  it  is  obtained 
for  use. 

Below  this  marble  lies  a  stratum  of  conglomerate  of  sand  and 
flint  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  thickness.  This 
band  was  marked  by  the  occasional  presence  of  iron  pyrites,  and 
with  one  trace  of  copper.  The  drill  went  through  it  very  slowly. 
Wherever  crevices  appeared  in  this  rock  strong  indications  of  oil 
were  found.  Beneath  this  conglomerate  we  entered  the  shale,  a 
blue  clay  or  unformed  rock,  which  separates  the  upper  and  lower 
Silurians.  This  band  is  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  thick, 
characterized  by  no  special  peculiarities.  We  met  with  nothing 
but  a  few  bushels  of  nodules,  or  more  perfectly  formed  shale, 
which  occasionally  dropped  into  the  well ;  but  this  entire  band 
was  saturated  with  petroleum,  the  sediment  coming  up  like  putty, 
thick  and  greasy.  A  test  by  distillation  afforded  a  small  quantity 
of  oil,  and  naptha  in  abundance.  Gas  now  began  to  escape  and 
signs  of  oil  were  abundant.  After  this  the  drill  penetrated  the 
upper  surface  of  the  Galena  limestone  ;  and  where  this  shale 
rests  upon  the  underlying  rock,  at  a  depth  of  five  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  feet,  the  largest  quantiy  of  oil  yet  seen  was  found. 
The  drill  and  drill  rods  were  covered  so  thickly  that  the  oil  ran 
from  them  in  considerable  quantities. 


3 


At  five  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  the  first  regular  band  of 
sandstone  was  entered,  and  here  again  oil  was  visible  in  quan- 
tities sufficient  to  produce  satisfaction.  This  sandstone  is  seventy- 
one  feet  thick,  and  shows  oil  through  the  entire  stratum.  At  six 
hundred  and  eight  feet  another  band  of  limestone  containing  flint 
and  sulphurets  of  iron  was  struck.  It  was  very  hard,  and  the 
progress  through  it  slow. 

At  this  point  the  well  was  in  constant  commotion  from  the 
action  of  escaping  gasses — the  water  at  times  fell  thirty  and 
sixty  feet  and  then  suddenly  rose  to  the  surface.  Shortly 
after  this  the  water  commenced  overflowing  the  well.  The  quantity 
was  small,  but  sufficient  to  carry  up  with  it  the  sediment  from  the 
bottom,  and  hence  from  this  point,  the  chippings  of  the  drill 
being  washed  away  and  lost,  we  had  nothing  by  which  to  deter- 
mine anything  further  in  relation  to  the  geological  formation. 
The  drill  continued  to  go  down  until,  at  the  depth  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  eleven  feet,  the  arch  of  the  rock  was  penetrated,  and 
the  water  suddenly  burst  forth.  This  was  about  the  25th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1864.  The  water  flows  at  the  rate  of  about  six  hundred 
thousand  gallons  per  twenty-four  hours,  through  an  orifice  four 
and  a  quarter  inches  in  diameter  at  the  bottom.  The  temperature  is 
58°  F.  and  is  uniform.  It  is  clear  as  crystal,  as  pure  as  the  dia- 
mond, free  from  all  animal  or  vegetable  matter,  and  from  any 
injurious  mineral  substances,  and  its  composition  is  such  that  it 
is  better  adapted  for  drinking  purposes,  and  for  health,  than  any 
other  water  known. 

Taking  into  account  the  low  temperature  of  this  water,  the 
great  depth  from  whence  it  comes,  its  head,  or  the  force  with 
which  it  comes  to  the  surface,  and  the  quantity  discharged,  it  may 
be  said  to  be  the  finest  Artesian  well  in  the  world.  There  is  no 
well  known  which  discharges  so  large  a  quantity  of  pure  healthy 
cold  water.     There  is  one  well — that  of  Passy,  near  Paris — of 


large  bore,  which  furnishes  more  water ;  but  it  is  warm,  and  can 
only  be  used  to  supply  the  lakes  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  and  for 
irrigating  purposes.  The  water  of  the  well  of  Grenelle,  also,  is 
unfit  for  other  than  mechanical  uses,  and  this  is  true  of  the  ma- 
jority of  deep  wells  in  this  country. 

Immediately  after  reaching  this  water,  we  proceeded  to  tube 
the  well  through  the  thirty-five  feet  of  surface  rock,  which  was 
much  broken  by  the  commotion  and  upheaval.  To  that  end  a  four- 
inch  pipe  was  inserted  and  driven  down  forty  feet,  until  it  reached 
the  solid  marble.  This  tube,  or  pipe,  is  now  carried  twenty-five 
feet  above  the  surface,  and  out  of  the  top  of  this  pipe  the  water 
flows  into  a  flume,  and  is  conveyed  to  the  water  wheel,  twenty 
feet  in  diameter,  which  is  used  as  power  to  drive  the  drills  and 
machinery  for  other  wells  which  are  now  in  process  of  construction. 

We  have  a  power  which  is  as  near  perpetual  motion  as  can  be 
got.  The  water  flows  on  and  on  in  undiminished  force  and  undi- 
minished quantity — the  water  flows  and  the  wheel  revolves.  We 
are  now  engaged  in  boring  a  well,  which,  when  completed,  will  be 
fifteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  will  discharge  ten  and  a  half  mil- 
lions of  gallons  per  day.  When  that  is  done,  we  shall  rim  out 
the  other  well  to  the  same  diameter,  and  will  then  have  a  quantity 
of  water  equal  to  twenty  millions  of  gallons  per  day. 

It  is  the  object  and  intention  of  this  work  to  supply  the  city  of 
Chicago  with  pure  and  wholesome  water.  We  can  do  it  at  one- 
half  of  the  cost  of  the  present  method,  and  then  we  shall  have 
the  great  advantages — 

1st.  That  neither  expensive  engines  nor  fuel  is  required ;  there 
is  no  labor ;  no  work ;  no  machinery.  It  will  flow  into  the  reser- 
voir with  a  force  and  power  which  steam  engines  and  force  pumps 
cannot  expect  to  equal. 

2d.  It  can  be  done  at  one-half  of  the  cost  to  the  poor  man 
which  the  present  method  entails. 


3d.  The  water  is  perfectly,  chemically  pure  —  free  from  all 
animal  and  vegetable  matter — and  consequently  not  obnoxious  to 
the  charges  of  disease  and  death  which  now  lie  at  the  door  of  the 
present  Chicago  Water  Works.  When  this  water  is  once  in  com- 
mon use,  erysipelas,  boils,  and  eruptive  diseases,  will  disappear, 
and  that  bane  of  our  Western  cities,  low  typhoid  fever,  will  be 
abated  in  Chicago.  The  advantages  which  attend  upon  this  pres- 
ent comparatively  insignificant  well  of  water  are  too  great  to  be 
reported  here.  Let  it  be  sufficient  to  say,  that  there  is  in  the  not 
distant  future  blessings  connected  with  it  which  cannot  be  paid 
for  in  dollars,  nor  rendered  in  detail  upon  paper. 

This  living  well  of  water  will  be  the  poor  man's  friend  for  all 
time  to  come,  and  the  doctors  enemy  for  eternity. 


BORING  FOR  OIL. 

Shortly  after  reaching  the  water,  as  above  described,  we  sunk 
another  well,  to  the  depth  of  about  forty  feet,  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  oil.  This  well  will  eventually  go  down  to  the  depth  of 
fifteen  hundred  feet,  if  necessary ;  but  at  present  it  is  stopped  to 
test  the  surface  rock  and  see  if  any  oil  can  be  obtained  from  it. 
This  well  has  been  pumped  for  about  three  weeks,  and  about  sev- 
enty-five to  one  hundred  gallons  of  Petroleum  secured.  But  this 
surface  stratum  of  fossiliferous  limestone,  before  mentioned  as 
being  saturated  with  Petroleum,  is  so  broken  and  distorted  by  the 
upheavals  that  it  seems  to  be  impossible  to  exclude  the  surface 
water  and  produce  a  vacuum  below  so  as  to  draw  the  oil  into  the 
well  from  the  seams  and  crevices.  That  oil  exists  here,  and  can, 
with  perseverance,  be  obtained,  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt ; 
eventually  that  question  will  be  decided  by  actual  experiment. 


LOCATION  OF  THE  LAND. 

The  tract  of  land  on  which  this  well  is  located  is  forty  acres  in 
extent,  and  lies  at  the  city  limits  of  Chicago — at  the  corner  of 
Chicago  and  Western  avenues — three  and  one-half  miles  from  the 
Court  House,  or  center  of  the  city.  Buildings  of  all  kinds  are 
gradually  approaching  it,  and  the  onward  course  of  the  great  city 
of  the  West  will  soon  surround  it.  The  elevation  is  thirty-one 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake,  and  is  the  highest  ground  within 
the  corporation  limits  ;  the  water  has  a  head  of  at  least  eighty 
feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  giving  one  hundred  and 
eleven  feet  above  the  lake,  thus  warranting  an  ample  head  for  all 
practical  and  useful  purposes. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THIS  WELL. 

Most  persons  of  the  present  day  have  heard  of  the  doctrine  of 
Modern  Spiritualism.  Some,  whose  educational  or  other  feelings 
teach  them  a  different  theory  of  religion,  treat  it  with  derision 
and  ridicule.  Others  who  do  not  profess  to  understand  it,  but 
pursue  a  wiser  course,  and  are  content  to  await  the  developments 
of  time  and  experience,  neither  reject  nor  adopt  that  which  they 
cannot  explain  or  understand  ;  there  is  yet  another  class  who  pro- 
fess to  understand  what  they  teach,  and  can  give  reasons  for  their 
faith,  who  have  adopted  the  principles  of  this  beautiful  philosophy 
as  their  rules  of  conduct  in  life,  and  on  which  they  base  their 
knowledge  of  immortality  and  the  Eternal  World.  We  do  not 
intend  to  enter  deeply  into  this  subject  at  present,  nor  to  take 
issue  with  any  person  who  sees  fit  to  differ  with  us  in  the  conclu- 
sions to  which  after  a  careful  investigation  we  have  arrived.  That 
is  no  part  of  our  business  now ;  holding  to  the  broad  doctrine 


that  every  man  is  entitled  to  the  fullest  scope  in  the  enjoyment  of 
his  religious  opinions  —  that  he  alone  is  his  own  saviour  and 
accountable  to  God  for  his  own  actions — and  hence  we  ask  no  man 
to  believe  as  we  do,  nor  to  adopt  our  faith.  We  may  place  before 
him  certain  facts  on  which  our  knowledge  is  based,  and  they  may 
be  accepted  or  rejected  as  may  seem  to  him  fit. 

True  Spiritualism,  as  it  exists  in  its  beauty  and  purity,  and 
divested  of  the  charlatanry,  humbug  and  imposture,  with  which 
knaves  and  rogues  sometimes  encumber  it,  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  Philosophy  of  Life — of  your  life  and  mine — Life  in 
the  Physical  and  in  the  material  world,  and  Life  in  the  Spiritual 
and  the  Eternal  world — nothing  but  human  existence — here  and 
there. 

Many  persons  doubt,  or  altogether  disbelieve,  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  after  leaving  its  form  to  communicate  with  those  remain- 
ing in  the  body,  while  those  who  believe  in  the  truths  of  the  Spir- 
itual Philosophy  know  this  to  be  a  demonstrated  fact,  and  also 
know  that  through  this  means  the  great  truths  of  the  Life  here- 
after— the  immortality  of  the  Soul  and  the  existence  and  manner 
of  life  of  the  human  spirit — may  be  learned.  Its  birth  and  educa- 
tion on  earth,  the  death  of  the  body,  and  the  passing  on  of  the 
Spirit  to  immortality,  become  facts  cognizable  to  the  human  intel- 
lect and  comprehension.  It  is  these  facts,  viz. :  The  existence  of 
the  Spirit  after  death,  and  its  consequent  immortality — its  power 
to  communicate  with  those  still  in  the  body,  and  from  this  source 
and  through  this  means  to  learn  the  truths  of  Immortal  life — to 
which  we  are  now  calling  the  attention  of  man,  and  which  we  hope 
to  demonstrate  beyond  question  or  dispute,  and  so  to  establish 
forever  that  there  may  be  no  further  cause  of  contradiction,  we 
desire  to  make  it  plain  to  the  mind  of  every  man  capable  of  forming 
a  thought,  that  his  spirit  lives  always  —  that  when  he  passes 
through  the  dark  valley  called  death  it  is  but  the  changing  of  a 


8 

garment,  not  death,  but  eternal  life — that  he  becomes  neither  an 
angel  nor  a  demon — that  he  is  not  raised  up  to  an  incomprehen- 
sible heaven  nor  cast  down  into  an  impossible  hell,  but  that  he 
remains,  himself,  an  existing,  individualized  spirit,  whose  future 
life  is  development  and  eternal  progress. 

While  Spiritualism  is  as  old  as  history,  running  through  the 
records  of  all  ages,  times  and  people,  manifesting  itself  in  one 
way  and  another  for  thousands  of  years,  yet  it  is  only  in  compar- 
atively modern  times — within  our  own  generation — that  the  Spirit 
world  has  been  able  to  make  such  communications  to  man  as  to 
lead  his  mind  in  the  right  direction  in  pursuit  of  that  knowledge 
which  is  of  itself  immortality. 

These  communications,  or  manifestations,  have  assumed  all 
conceivable  forms  and  shapes — physical,  as  table-tippings  and 
movings,  ringing  of  bells,  playing  on  musical  instruments,  raising 
persons  from  the  floor,  sustaining  heavy  bodies  in  the  air,  and 
thousands  of  things  of  a  like  character  too  numerous  to  repeat  in 
detail ;  mental,  as  talking  in  strange  tongues ;  ignorant  men, 
uneducated  women,  and  little  children,  delivering  discourses  on 
political  and  scientific  subjects  with  all  the  freedom  of  men  of 
great  education  and  wisdom,  and  displaying  a  knowledge  which  is 
only  acquired  by  men  of  studious  habits  and  great  experience. 

Such  manifestations  have  been  made  for  the  one  purpose,  among 
others,  of  calling  the  attention  of  man  to  the  great  truths  of  life — 
what  he  is  and  what  he  is  to  be — that  he  may  understand  his 
existence  here  and  his  Immortal  life  beyond  the  grave  ;  that  dark- 
ness, ignorance  and  bigotry  may  be  dispelled ;  that  superstition 
may  be  destroyed,  and  the  light  of  the  new  truth  be  installed  in 
its  supreme  majesty  and  glory. 

Long  and  fearfully  has  the  world  struggled  with  ignorance  and 
barbarity ;  thousands  of  martyrs  to  Liberty  and  Religion  have 
perished  on  the  scaffold  or  at  the  stake  of  fire.     Imprisonment 


and  disgrace  were  thrust  upon  Copernicus  and  Gallileo  for  the 
utterance  of  a  simple  and  sublime  Truth.  Cranmer  perished  in 
the  flames,  and  thousands  died  under  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, that  ignorance  might  live,  and  that  bigotry  might  rule  with 
fire  and  sword.  But  we  thank  the  Eternal  God  that  these  times 
have  passed  away — that  a  new  era  is  inaugurated — that  a  new 
light  has  dawned  upon  a  regenerated  world,  and  no  more  need 
man  fear  a  return  to  the  darkness  and  prejudices  of  past  ages — tG 
dark  ignorance  and  blind  bigotry.  In  our  country  and  our  times 
the  fullest  scope  of  religious  liberty  is  the  birth-right  of  every 
freeman. 

Evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  Spiritual  Philosophy,  of  the 
power  of  the  spirit  to  communicate  with  man  in  the  body,  have 
been  from  time  to  time  submitted  to  the  world — thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  have  heard  and  seen  these  proofs,  and  have 
believed,  until  the  numbers  have  been  swelled  to  millions.  But 
there  are  those  who  demand  a  potent  physical  manifestation  of 
the  power  of  the  spirit,  so  that  all  men  may  see  and  comprehend, 
and  go  away  believing.  Eor  such  a  purpose,  and  to  all  the 
world,  the  revelation  of  the  existence  of  water  and  oil  underneath 
this  ground  was  made.  It  was  stated  by  these  spiritual  intelli- 
gences, among  many  other  things,  that  this,  the  city  of  Chicago, 
was  the  grand  center  of  population,  and  the  capital  of  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  heart  of  a  great  Continent,  whose  people 
were  grandly  and  rapidly  rising  to  greatness  and  renown ;  that 
here  were  attracted  representatives  of  all  nations,  tongues  and 
peoples,  and  hence  if  a  great  practical,  sensible  demonstration  of 
spirit  power  were  made  here,  intelligence  of  the  fact  would  spread 
far  and  wide  over  the  world,  and  that  all  men  would  come  at  last 
to  hear  of  the  new  truth,  and  spread  the  tidings  among  all  man- 
kind. It  was  farther  stated,  that  the  revelation  of  the  existence 
of  water  and  petroleum  near   Chicago,  and  the  securing  of  these 


10 

articles  would  confer  everlasting  blessings,  of  a  substantial  kind, 
on  a  great  population ;  would  bring  health,  and  life,  and  light,  to 
the  people  of  this  city  for  all  time  to  come;  and  would  be 
a  perpetual  memento  and  land  mark,  to  which  all  in  the  future 
could  look  back  in  testimony  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  New 
Philosophy. 

That  there  was  a  quantity  of  this  water  amply  sufficient  to 
supply  the  people  of  this  city  for  all  time  ;  that  from  its  far  dis- 
tant source  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  away  off  in  the  Northwest, 
Nature  has  placed  a  fountain  head,  and  sent  the  streamlets  down 
far  among  the  rocks  and  stones  of  earth,  on  its  mission  to  bless 
and  help  mankind. 

That  the  quality  of  the  water  is  such  as  to  adapt  it  admirably 
to  the  use  of  man — it  is  pure  and  sweet,  and  clear  as  the  crystal 
springs,  and  possesses  a  power  of  invigorating  the  body  not  com- 
mon to  any  other  water  known — it  is  filtered  through  the  sand- 
stones and  gravel  beds  of  Earth,  and  comes  to  the  surface  with  a 
surprising  force  and  power ;  has  a  head  sufficient  to  elevate  it 
above  the  highest  buildings  in  the  city,  and  power  equal  to  the 
largest  engines. 

Dispensing  with  expensive  fuel,  steam  pumps,  and  great  engines, 
it  will  fill  the  reservoirs  of  the  city,  without  cost,  in  the  shortest 
possible  time. 

It  was  further,  also,  stated,  that  petroleum,  in  large  quantities, 
existed  underneath  this  land  ;  that  it  could  and  would  be  obtained 
and  used  by  the  people  of  this  city,  for  all  the  purposes  to  which 
this  article  is  applied. 

The  one  part  of  the  revelation  is  fulfilled,  the  other  is  yet  to 
come.  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt  but  that  the  entire  prediction 
will  be  fulfilled  in  letter  and  spirit ;  such  evidences  of  the  exist- 
ence of  oil  have  already  been  obtained  as  to  render  it  almost  cer- 
tain that  the  future  will  demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  statement. 


11 


When  baring  the  water  well — as  will  be  seen  by  referring  to 
previous  pages  in  this  narative — oil  was  obtained  in  quantities 
sufficient  to  warrant  the  introduction  of  a  pump,  had  we  only 
possessed  a  knowledge  of  the  matter  which  would  have  enabled 
us  to  obtain  the  oil  by  the  means  now  in  use  for  that  purpose, 
but  we  did  not  have  that  knowledge,  and  thus  the  well  went  down 
to  the  water. 

During  the  past  winter,  we  have  bored  a  well  only  forty-five 
feet  in  depth,  in  order  to  test  the  surface  rock  for  oil;  out  of  this 
well  have  been  pumped  about  one  hundred  gallons  of  petroleum. 
But  the  broken  nature  of  the  surface  rock,  which  is  characterized 
by  large  seams  and  crevices,  prevented  the  exclusion  of  the  sur- 
face water,  and  the  attempt  was  therefore  abandoned,  and  the 
well  is  now  being  sunk  to  a  lower  stratum,  to  obtain  the  oil  there. 
During  the  present  year  this  well  will  be  thoroughly  tested,  and 
the  result  made  public. 


THE  FUTURE  OP  THIS  WORK. 

We  are  now  engaged  in  boring  a  well  for  a  further  supply  of 
water,  which,  when  completed,  will  be  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
inches  in  diameter — most  probably  the  latter — and  will  discharge 
from  ten  to  seventeen  millions  of  gallons  per  day.  This  water 
will  be  first  used  to  supply  the  City  Reservoirs  and  the  people 
of  Chicago  with  this  indispensable  article,  of  such  a  quality  as  the 
people  of  no  other  city  enjoy.  A  cheap,  inexpensive,  perennial 
river,  will  flow  outward  to  our  citizens  forever.  We  shall  then 
apply  the  water  to  the  making  of  ice,  by  constructing  a  pond  of 
about  forty  acres  in  extent,  and  putting  up,  in  the  winter 
season,  from  fifty  thousand  to  seventy-five  thousand  tons  of  the 
clearest,  purest  ice  to  be  found  anywhere  in    the  world.      Shade 


12 


trees  and  shrubbery  will  ornament  the  banks,  and  walks  will  be 
laid  all  about  it,  and  thus  it  will  be  made  to  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  a  Pleasure  Lake  in  the  summer  time,  and  an  Ice  Pond 
for  the  winter.  The  next  thing  now  in  contemplation  is  the  erec- 
tion of  a  cast  iron  column,  or  cylinder,  about  four  feet  in  diame- 
ter and  about  one  hundred  feet  in  hight,  to  carry  this  water  to 
the  level  of  its  fountain  head.  Prom  this  column  it  can  be  con- 
veyed in  any  direction,  and  to  any  place,  for  use,  as  a  power  to 
drive  machinery,  for  which  it  is  admirably  adapted.  Paper  mills, 
cotton  or  woolen  factories,  can  be  erected  on  this  ground,  and  be 
run  with  a  cheap  and  lasting  power  for  all  time  to  come.  There 
is,  in  fact,  scarcely  a  conceivable  use  to  which  this  power  may  not 
be  cheaply  and  advantageously  applied. 

In  the  not  distant  future  we  shall  lay  out  a  pleasure-ground  and 
garden,  shade-trees  and  shrubbery,  grass  and  flowers,  fountains, 
springs,  and  little  lakes,  of  this  crystal  water,  will  ornament  and 
adorn  this  spot  of  ground — baths  and  bathing-houses  will  be  built, 
and  this  great  gift  dispensed  on  every  side  with  a  free  and  liberal 
hand. 

There  is  also  a  promise  on  record,  of  the  spiritual  intelligence 
who  made  this  revelation,  that  the  main  object  and  design  of  this 
work,  not  being  to  put  money  into  the  hands  of  one  or  two  or 
more  individuals — nor  for  the  mere  accumulation  of  wealth  by 
particular  persons — that  the  day  will  come  when  the  funds,  to  be 
derived  from  this  source,  will  be  applied  to  charitable,  benevolent 
and  educational  purposes,  and  for  the  spreading  and  dissemina- 
tion of  the  principles  of  this  simple  and  beautiful  philosophy 

That,  on  this  ground,  a  great  and  magnificent  temple  will  be 
reared  to  the  Supreme  Intelligence  of  the  universe,  whose  portals 
will  ever  be  open  to  the  entire  human  family,  and  where  all, 
casting  aside  the  old  creeds,  forms,  and  theologies,  may  enter  the 
vast  halls  of  mind,   and  learn  the  eternal  truths  of  God.     Free 


13 


schools  and  colleges  will  grow  up  about  it,  in  which  the  children 
of  poverty  may  enter,  and  receive  that  education  and  instruction 
which  will  enable  them  to  advance  their  condition  in  life,  and  to 
contribute  to  the  general  welfare  and  progress  of  the  country  in 
which  we  live.  Hospitals  will  be  erected  for  the  sick  and  desti- 
tute, and  schools  of  the  arts  and  sciences  will  be  established  to 
promote  that  intellectual  culture  which  goes  so  far  towards  that 
refinement  which  is  indispensable  to  a  great  people. 

All  of  this  may  seem  wild  and  extravagant  to  those  "who  have 
given  no  thought  to  the  subject ;  but  as  the  tendency  of  this 
seeming  extravagance  is  to  contribute  to  the  general  welfare  of 
the  people,  and  to  the  advancement  of  the  public  good,  the  writer, 
who  has  given  many  days  and  weeks  of  thought  to  this  and  kin- 
dred subjects,  craves  the  indulgence  of  a  liberal  people.  Satisfied 
in  my  own  mind  that  all  of  this  and  much  more  will  surely  come 
to  pass,  and  that  the  future  of  this  great  work  can  be  compre- 
hended by  every  person  of  common  intelligence  who  will  devote 
a  little  thought  to  the  matter,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  place  these 
anticipations  in  print,  and  to  make  a  public  record  of  my  own 
convictions.  But  a  few  years,  and  the  story  will  be  told,  its 
truth  or  falsity  known  to  men. 


THE    MANNER   IN   WHICH    THESE    REVELA- 
TIONS WERE  MADE. 

The  method  or  manner  in  which  communications  usually  come 
from  the  spirit  world,  are  well  understood  by  those  who  study  the 
philosophy,  but  not  perhaps  so  well  understood  by  the  world  at 
large.  Like  all  other  things  which  the  Creator  has  made,  these 
manifestations  are  as  various  and  diversified  as  any.  In  the  ear- 
lier times,  and  when  the  fact   was  first  brought  to    the  notice  of 


14 


man,  it  was  by  raps,  table-tippings,  spelling  out  words  by  means 
of  the  alphabet,  and  other  simple  but  effectual  devices,  that  the 
spirit  made  known  its  intelligence  and  its  wants.  Many  persons 
were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  of  this  spirit  commun- 
ion, by  this  plain  and  simple  method.  As  man  became  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  subject,  and  the  progess  of  knowledge  became 
more  emphatic,  the  communications  assumed  other  shapes,  per- 
sons who  possessed  certain  electrical  or  vital  conditions  became 
enabled  to  write  out  communications  at  length — to  express 
thoughts  and  ideas  in  a  tolerably  clear  and  perspicuous  manner, 
this  in  a  measure  depending  on  the  power  of  the  spirit  to  place  the 
medium  under  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  control.  When  the 
spirit  got  an  absolute  control  over  the  medium,  the  communica- 
tions were  more  likely  to  be  clear  and  intelligible  than  if  the  sub- 
jection were  only  partial,  in  which  case  the  matter  communicated 
partakes  of  the  ideas  and  thoughts  of  the  medium.  Another 
phase  of  this  phenomenon  is  that  quite  as  general  and  common 
now  as  either  of  the  others  ;  it  is,  speaking  the  thought  and  lan- 
guage of  the  spirit  through  the  medium.  When  in  a  state  of  syn- 
cope or  trance,  unconscious,  oblivious  to  all  surroundings,  and,  as 
it  were,  locked  fast  in  sleep,  ignorant,  uneducated  men  have  been 
known  to  speak  strange  tongues.  Men  who  are  familiar  with  no 
other  language  than  their  mother  tongue,  have  spoken  fluently  in 
French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  Chinese,  Arabic,  and  lan- 
guages of  various  Indian  tribes.  They  have  delivered  discourses 
on  philosophy,  religion,  astronomy,  chemistry,  geology,  and  all 
the  natural  sciences,  displaying  a  diversified  knowledge  which 
can  only  be  acquired  by  years  of  study  and  thought.  There  is 
still  another  form  in  which  this  intelligence  has  manifested  itself, 
and  that  is  in  the  arts  of  drawing  and  painting.  I  have  seen  some 
most  wonderful  and  beautiful  manifestations  of  this  power  partic- 
ularly illustrated  in  pencil  drawings.     There  is  now  in  Chicago, 


15 

in  the  possession  of  a  gentleman  whose  name,  as  I  have  not 
requested  it,  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  use,  but  who  no  doubt  would 
cheerfully  acquiesce  if  requested,  a  pencil  portrait  of  his  wife, 
life-size,  with  a  countenance  of  most  angelic  beauty ;  her  hair 
falls  in  elaborate  ringlets  over  a  neck  and  shoulders  of  exquisite 
mould ;  her  head  is  adorned  only  with  a  boquet  of  roses,  a  moss 
rose  in  full  bloom  and  an  opening  bud  of  the  same  ;  her  right 
hand  is  raised  to  the  cheek  and  her  fingers  clasp  a  most  delicate 
fuchia  ;  the  left  hand  rests  across  the  waist — and  such  hands  and 
arms,  perfect  in  their  symmetry  and  beauty,  only  Raphael  him- 
self could  hope  to  equal — the  whole  form  is  robed  in  a  figured 
lace  which  falls  in  graceful  folds  to  the  feet,  and  the  elaborate 
tracery  of  the  design  is  most  wonderful.  As  you  look  upon  this 
figure  it  seems  to  be  the  work  of  years  and  of  a  most  finished 
artist ;  and  yet  this  picture  was  made  in  a  few  days  by  a  jour- 
neyman cabinetmaker,  Anderson  of  New  York — a  man  totally 
ignorant  of  drawing  or  portrait  painting.  And  this  talent,  or 
inspiration,  or  whatever  else  you  may  call  it,  came  upon  him 
uncalled  for  and  unsought,  without  masters  and  without  teaching. 
And  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  visited  this  well  can 
see  the  same  thing  illustrated  in  the  pictures  exhibited  here. 

The  medium  through  whom  the  revelation  of  the  existence  of 
this  water  came,  Mr.  Abraham  James,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
is  of  Quaker  origin,  was  unfortunate  enough  in  early  life  to  be 
deprived  even  of  the  rudiments  of  a  common  school  education. 
As  he  himself  expresses  it  — "  his  father,  instead  of  sending  him 
to  school  in  the  winter  kept  him  laying  stone  walls."  Later  in 
life  he  has  been  employed  by  different  Railway  companies  in 
the  West,  sometimes  as  conductor,  at  other  times  as  a  pilot,  earn- 
ing only  ordinary  wages.  It  is  known  to  me  to  be  a  fact  that  he 
is  entirely  ignorant  of  any  language  except  the  English ;  docs 
not  know  the  meaning  of  a  single  French,  German,  Italian,  or 


16 

Spanish  word.  He  is  a  simple-minded  man,  in  the  sense  that  he 
knows  nothing  of  frauds,  trickery,  or  imposture — perfectly  truth- 
ful and  upright  in  his  character,  unostentatious,  and  seeking  no 
publicity  or  notoriety — he  pursues  his  own  way  in  the  world,  a 
natural,  honest  man.  His  mind  is  as  free  from  a  , knowledge  of 
the  sciences  as  that  of  a  child  of  five  years.  He  has  had  no 
instruction  in  drawing,  and,  in  his  normal  state,  has  no  knowledge 
of  the  art  of  any  kind  or  description.  There  are  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  people  hjere  among  us  who  know  him  well,  and  who 
can  testify  to  these  facts.  Now,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  this  man 
— his  antecedents,  education,  and  history — I  know  it  to  be  a  per- 
fect impossibility  for  him,  in  his  natural  state,  or  unaided  by  the 
higher  powers,  to  do  what  he  has  done  and  what  he  is  doing  every 
day  of  his  life. 

Here  on  this  ground,  and  in  the  rooms  of  this  building,  can  be 
seen,  by  all  persons  who  choose  to  visit  the  spot,  some  of  the 
most  elaborate  and  beautiful  pencil  drawkigs  in  the  world.  A 
series  of  geological  pictures,  illustrating  the  formation  and  strat- 
ification of  the  earth's  crust — some  showing  the  simple  strata  of 
the  formation  in  this  vicinity,  which  were  drawn  before  the  drill 
was  even  started,  and  which  were  demonstrated  to  be  accurate 
and  truthful  by  the  descent  of  the  drill  for  over  seven  hundred 
feet — other  pictures  show  great  caves  and  caverns  in  the  rock, 
created  either  by  vast  upheavals,  or  by  erosion — the  action  of 
water  upon  soluble  rocks.  The  floors  of  some  of  these  caverns  are 
composed  of  great  masses  of  the  most  beautiful  fossil  shells, 
which,  in  their  shadings  and  perfection,  are  evidently  the  work 
of  a  master  hand.  The  elaborate  character  of  this  shell-work, 
which  runs  through  all  these  geological  pictures — the  millions  of 
accurate  pencil  strokes  necessary  to  complete  them,  and  the  very 
short  time  in  which  they  were  executed — are  matters  of  great 
wonder  and  astonishment  to   all  who  have  seen  them.     Many  of 


17 

these  drawings  are  on  full-sized  sheets  of  paper,  26x40  inches, 
and  cover  the  entire  surface ;  they  were  completed  in  from  three 
to  nine  hours  each — the  latter  being  the  longest  time  given  to  any- 
one picture.  Mr.  James  has  also  made  many  smaller  sketches 
illustrating  the  same  subject,  viz  :  the  fossils  of  Earth.  These 
latter  are  perfect  gems  of  beauty,  and  all  of  his  work  seems  to  be 
geologically  correct,  and  is  so  pronounced  by  those  who  under- 
stand these  matters.  By  reference  to  standard  works  on  geol- 
ogy, I  find  their  accuracy  proved  to  a  demonstration.  A  greater 
work  than  all  is  now  on  exhibition  here.  It  is  a  diagram  of  this 
stream  of  water,  fifteen  feet  in  length  and  twenty-six  inches  in 
width.  It  is  understood  as  a  clairvoyant  view  of  the  stream  from 
its  source  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  its  outlet  on  this  ground. 
It  may  be  called  a  "bird's  eye"  view.  It  exhibits  on  a  general 
scale  the  principles  of  artesian  wells,  and  demonstrates  the  man- 
ner in  which  water  finds  its  way  through  the  rocks  and  sands  of 
earth,  and  finally  raises  to  the  level  of  its  fountain  head.  This 
picture  is  composed  of  six  sheets  of  drawing  paper,  each  one  of 
which  was  finished  separately,  and  without  any  apparent  refer- 
ence to  the  others,  by  the  medium,  and  were  joined  together 
afterwards,  when  they  were  all  found  to  match  exactly  and  make 
one  complete  work.  This  was  the  labor  of  only  sixty  hours. 
Persons  familiar  with  the  subject  say  that  no  ordinary  artist  can 
do  the  same  amount  of  work  in  many  months. 

There  has  been  recently  added  to  this  collection  a  full  length 
portrait  of  the  martyred  President,  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  this  also 
is  a  work  done  through  the  same  medium.  The  sheet  of  paper 
on  which  this  likeness  is  drawn  is  seven  and  a  half  feet  long  by 
four  and  a  half  in  width  ;  it  exhibits  the  President,  life-size,  as 
standing  upon  a  rock,  the  broken  chain  of  African  slavery 
beneath  his  feet,  and  in  his  left  hand  the  scroll  of  American  lib- 
erty.    This  picture  was  put   upon  paper  in   about  twenty  hours, 


18 

and  is  in  itself  a  most  remarkable  production,  even  of  the  power 
through  which  it  is  claimed  to  be  received. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  by  any  mere  description  in 
print,  to  convey  even  a  tolerable  idea  of  the  nature  of  these  works; 
they  should  be  seen  and  carefully  examined  by  all  who  are  curi- 
ous in  the  mysteries  of  nature. 

A  not  less  wonderful  part  of  the  matter  is  the  manner  in 
which  the  work  is  done.  The  medium  labors  in  an  unconscious 
state,  with  from  two  to  six  pencils,  and  with  one  or  both  hands, 
the  pencils  are  placed  between  the  fingers,  and  the  hand  moves 
with  a  rapidity  which  troubles  the  eye  to  follow,  each  pencil  doing 
a  separate  part  of  the  work  at  the  same  time,  and  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  in  the  dark  or  light;  indeed  his  best  pictures 
are  made  in  a  dark  room.  I  have  frequently  bandaged  his  eyes, 
and  held  a  paper  between  his  face  and  his  picture,  and  it  made  no 
difference;  the  pencils  did  theirwork  equally  as  well  as  when  his 
eyes  were  free  and  there  were  no  obstructions. 

There  is  another  fact  illustrated  in  these  works,  i.  e.  the 
medium  draws  a  square  or  a  circle  to  accurate  measurement,  with- 
out other  implements  than  the  mere  pencil,  and  this  with  the 
right  hand  or  the  left. 

Mr.  James  has  gone  further  than  these  physical  manifestations 
of  the  spirit  power.  In  common  with  hundreds  of  others  who  can 
verify  the  facts  here  stated,  I  have  for  the  past  two  years  heard 
through  him  a  series  of  discourses  on  all  conceivable  subjects, 
political,  scientific,  and  philosophical,  which  would  not  disgrace 
the  greatest  intellects  that  ever  lived.  With  equal  freedom  and 
facility  he  discusses  questions  of  political  economy  and  political 
science,  geology,  chemistry,  medicine,  astronomy,  the  philosophy 
of  life,  the  structure  of  the  earth,  and  all  of  the  physical  and 
natural  sciences. 

A  distinguished  professor  of  the  science  and  a  State  Geologist, 


19 


after  listening  to  a  discourse  from  Mr.  James  on  the  subject, 
remarked,  that  "I  have  met  a  man  who  knows  more  about  geol- 
ogy than  I  do." 

I  have  also  heard  him  speak  fluently,  and  with  an  evident 
knowledge  of  the  whole,  in  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  German, 
and  an  Indian  tongue,  and  I  am  confident  of  the  fact  that  he  is, 
in  his  natural  state,  wholly  ignorant  of  any  other  than  the  Eng- 
lish language.  There  is  neither  deception  nor  fraud  about  this 
man.  He  is  beyond  all  question  above  suspicion.  He  makes  no 
exhibition  for  money,  gefls  no  money  out  of  it,  lives  a  retired  and 
secluded  life.  Now  what  is  it?  Upon  what  hypothesis  can  this 
seeming  mystery  be  solved  ?  These  things  are  facts — hard,  stub- 
born, unyielding  facts.  Let  those  who  do  not  believe  as  I  do  in 
the  intelligence  which  operating  through  this  instrument,performs 
all  of  these  wonders,  solve  the  mystery,  it  is  not  for  me. 

It  was  through  this  medium  that  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
water  and  oil  underneath  this  ground  was  revealed  ;  this  was  as 
eaily  as  the  autumn  of  1863.  And  from  that  time  until  the  water 
was  reached,  the  fact  was  more  than  one  hundred  times  re-stated 
and  repeated,  in  the  presence  of  the  writer  and  numerous  other 
persons,  who  can  verify  and  prove  this  statement. 

The  land  was  selected,  and  the  point  for  boring  marked  out  by 
the  medium  in  a  trance  state,  the  drill  started,  and  the  well  bored 
at  this  point,  with  the  result  which  is  now  visible  to  all — (a  synopsis 
of  the  objects  and  purposes  of  this  revelation  is  given  in  a  previ- 
ous page.)  They  will  be  carried  out  by  the  parties  in  whose  hands 
the  matter  rests.  Chicago  is  now  on  her  grand  march  to  her 
position  as  the  second  city  on  the  continent,  and  there  are  those 
now  living  who  will  see  her  reach  it.  And  such  will  also  see  on 
this  ground,  and  from  this  simple  commencement,  a  structure 
reared  which  will  be,  not  only  an  ornament  to  the  great  North- 
west, but  a  shrine  of  religious  liberty  and  truth,  around  which 
shall  gather  pilgrims  from  all  the  wide  world. 


20 

In  the  fullest  confidence  that  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  Creator 
of  the  Universe  has  done  all  things  well,  "that  everything  that  is, 
is  right,"  that  eternal  progress  is  the  law  of  nature  and  nature's 
God,  that  no  man  should  call  God  his  Father  who  does  not  also 
call  man  his  brother,  we  launch  our  little  barque,  freighted  only 
perhaps  with  the  germ  of  a  truth,  out  upon  the  great  waters. 
She  will  return  before  many  days,  laden  with  the  fruits  of  her 
mission. 

Chicago,  Juxe,  1865. 


ARTESIAN  WELLS. 

The  following  are  among  the  principal  wells  of  the  world  : 

The  Grenelle  well,  at  Paris,  depth  1,806  feet,  flows  500,000  gallons  of  water  hi 
twenty-four  hours — temperature  of  the  water  82°  F.,  and  salt — used  only  foi 
heating  the  hospitals. 

The  well  of  Pass}r,  in  the  same  basin,  and  about  the  same  depth,  is  the  largest 
well  in  the  world — two  feet  in  diameter  and  discharges  5,660,000  gallons  of 
water  per  day. 

The  Belcher  well,  at  St.  Louis,  is  2,199  feet  deep,  and  discharges  75  gallons  per 
minute.  Water  73°  F.,  highly  impregnated  with  mineral  substances,  and  has  a 
strong  odor — useless  for  any  except  medicinal  purposes. 

The  Kissingen  well,  in  Bavaria,  is  1,878%  feet  in  depth  and  four  inches  in 
diameter.    Temperature  66°  F. — discharges  750  gallons  per  minute. 

The  well  of  Munden,  in  Hanover,  is  nearly  2,000  feet  in  depth ;  other  particu- 
lars not  known. 

Two  wells  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  are  1,250  feet  in  depth,  each  discharge  about 
1,200  gallons  per  hour  ;  water  salt,  and  temperature  87°  F. 

The  well  at  Jackson,  Mich.,  is  over  2,000  feet  deep — no  water,  and  is  now 
abandoned. 

There  is  also  a  deep  well  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  another  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky ;  and  hundreds  of  others  scattered  over  the  United  States,  which 
have  no  special  public  significance. 


OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  PETROLEUM. 


ITS  USES  AND  APPLICATIONS. 


The  present  state  of  geological  knowledge  is  not  such  as  to 
warrant  the  assertion  by  any  of  its  professors,  that  oil  will  or 
will  not  be  found  in  particular  localities— among  particular 
rocks,  or  under  certain  peculiar  conditions,  and  none  other.  The 
subject  is  too  new,  of  too  recent  an  origin  to  come  as  yet  fully 
within  the  scope  and  understanding  of  this,  the  youngest  sister  of 
the  sciences. 

She  can  only  determine  that  this  article  has  been  found  and 
brought  to  the  surface  in  certain  specified  districts  of  country, 
and  then  the  facts,  which  have  been  demonstrated  and  gathered 
in  the  experience  of  mining  for  oil,  may  be  collected  by  geology 
and  brought  to  bear  on  the  subject  with  all  the  force  of  which 
they  are  susceptible,  but  she  cannot  go  further  and  lay  down 
arbitrary  rules  as  to  the  origin  of  this  article  and  the  laws  of  its 
existence  and  production.  This  is  beyond  the  present  range  of 
knowledge.  Nor  can  geology  determine  and  decide,  that  oil 
will  or  will  not  be  found  beneath  the  ground  from  mere  surface 
signs  or  indications.  It  may  know  what  these  indications  are  in 
districts  where  oil  is  found,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  absence 
of  such  signs  in  another  district  proves  also  the  absence  of  oil, 
for  the  indications,  when  there  are  any,  vary,  in  different  locali- 
ties, and  oil  may  exist,  in  places  where  no  indications  of  any 
kind  can  be  discovered. 


22 

Time  and  experience  will,  in  all  probability,  develop  a  state  of 
facts    which  will  enable   us  to   determine  with  some  degree  of 
accuracy,  the  primary  laws  relative  to  this  wonderful  product  of 
our  Mother  Earth,   and  in  the  meantime  we  can  only  speculate 
and  reason  upon  probabilities  :  that  is  the  extent  and  the  purpose 
of  this  paper,  to  examine  and  to  reason.     If  I  succeed  in  throw- 
ing any  light  upon  the  subject,  it  will  be  well ;  if  not,  no  harm 
will  ensue.     A  great  variety  of  theories  as  to  the  existence  and 
origin  of  petroleum  have  from  time  to  time,  found  place  in  the 
current  literature  of  the  day.     Some  of  these  are  reasonable  and 
plausible ;    others    are   ridiculous    and   absurd ;    men  of  solid, 
scientific  acquirements  ;  those  who  have  familiarized  themselves 
with,  and  possess  a  substantial  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the 
earth's  crust,  are  slow  to  propound  any  solution  of  the  subject, 
and  only  state  such  results  as  the  known  facts  of  the  case  seem 
to  warrant,  while  the  rise  and  rapid  progress  of  this  article,  its 
great  commercial  value,  and  the  wild,  speculative  fever  engen- 
dered thereby,   have  brought  forth    a  swarm  of  empirics,  men. 
ignorant  of  the  first  principles   of   natural   science,    and   bent- 
wholly  upon  the  mere  matter  of  money  which  could  be  obtained 
by  presuming  "  to  know  all  about  it,"  have  vented  a  thousand 
wild  theories  and  vagaries,  which  have  no  other  foundation  than 
their  own  visionary  imaginations. 

One  of  the  earliest  suppositions,  and  which  obtained  a  degree 
of  credit,  by  certain  superficial  reasons  urged  in  its  favor,  was, 
that  oil  was  in  some  manner  in  the  great  laboratory  of  nature, 
distilled  from  the  coal  beds.  It  was  stated  in  support  of  this 
position,  that  the  same  article  was  obtained  by  the  distillation  of 
coal  in  a  retort ;  and  hence,  that  the  article  found  in  the  earth, 
and  which  came  rushing  to  the  surface  in  great  volumes,  must 
have  been  made  in  the  same  way,  but  the  supporters  of  this 
theory   overlooked  the  one  important  fact,   that   when   coal  is 


23 

artificially  decomposed  and  separated  into  fluids  and  gases  in  a 
retort,  there  is  a  residuum  left  which  is  called  coke,  and  that  if 
nature  had  so  distilled  the  coal,  she  had  forgotten  to  leave  the 
product,  as  there  are  no  great  beds  of  coke  found  anywhere  upon 
the  earth's  surface.  When  this  objection  was  first  urged,  it  was 
after  some  time  replied,  that  the  anthracite  coal,  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  was  the  product  or  residuum  of  Nature's  still ;  but  as 
man  cannot  distill  coal  and  make  the  anthracite  in  the  process,  that 
supposition,  was  soon  abandoned;  and  there  was  another  fatal 
objection  to  this  theory,  and  that  was  this :  that  no  bituminous 
coal  from  which  it  was  supposed  nature  had  distilled  the  oil,  has  or 
could  be  found  anywhere  in  the  region  of  the  largest  oil  deposits, 
and  the  anthracite  was  still  farther  removed. 

Another  great  fact  which  operated  against  the  truth  of  this 
hypothesis,  was  proved  by  the  borings  into  the  earth  and  the  dis- 
covery of  oil,  hundreds  of  feet  below  the  coal  measures.  This 
oil,  as  shown  in  the  flowing  wells,  having  a  powerful  tendency 
towards  the  surface,  and  not  downwards— the  question  naturally 
arose,  how  did  the  oil  ever  get  so  far  down  into  the  rock, 
when  according  to  its  natural  law  it  should  come  to  the  surface? 
And  for  these  reasons,  among  others,  the  coal  theory  was  dis- 
posed of— and  it  now  seems  more  probable,  and  stronger  reasons 
can  be  urged  in  support  of  the  proposition,  that  coal  was  formed 
from  oil,  rather  than  that  oil  was  formed  from  coal  ;  and  the  day 
may  not  be  distant  when  this  position  will  be  demonstrated  by 
incontrovertible  facts. 

There  was  another  theory  once  started  by  a  professor  of 
Geology  in  a  college  in  Ohio— "  That  oil  was  projected  to  the 
surface  by  the  direct  pressure  of  a  stream  of  water  whose  head 
was  higher  than  the  issue."  This  professor  did  not,  I  believe, 
attempt  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  oil,  but  simply  to  explain 
the  manner  in  which  he  thought  it  came  to  the  surface.     It  is 


24 


sufficient  to  refute  this  absurd  position  by  simply  saying,  that,  if 
it  were  true,  that  the  water  forced  the  oil,  (being  an  impediment 
in  its  way,)  to  the  surface,  then  when  the  oil  ceased  flowing,  it 
would  be  followed  by  the  water,  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  never 
occurs,  though  hundreds  of  wells  of  oil  have  ceased  to  flow  ;  yet, 
not  one  has  ever  became  a  flowing  well  of  water.  While  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  history  of  petroleum,  and  when  it  had  as  it 
were,  thrust  itself  with  a  presuming  air  upon  the  notice  of  men, 
numberless  crude  and  uncertain  speculations  concerning  its 
origin  and  existence,  were  put  afloat ;  yet,  within  the  past  year 
or  two,  much  genuine  scientific  knowledge  has  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  subject,  and  a  light  thrown  about  it,  which  will  in 
all  probability  eventually  elucidate  the  whole  matter.  More 
attention  has,  however,  been  paid  to  that  branch  of  the  subject 
which  pertains  to  the  refining  of  petroleum,  and  its  applications 
and  uses  than  to  mere  speculations  as  to  its.  origin,  and  the  laws 
which  govern  its  existence  in  its  native  beds  among  the  rocks  of 
the  earth.  Dr.  Thomas  Antisell,  Abraham  Gessner,  and  Dr. 
Theodore  Opplerr  have  published  treatises  pertaining  to  this 
branch  which  are  highly  valuable  and  useful.  While  Professor 
Henri  Erni,  of  Washington,  has  recently  published  by  far  the 
most  valuable  work  on  the  origin  of  oil,  which  has  yet  appeared 
anywhere. 

Professor  Erni  is  of  the  opinion  that  "Petroleum  is  a  product 
of  chemical  decomposition,  derived  from  organic  remains,  plants 
and  animals,  whole  generations  of  which  perished  and  accumu- 
lated during  many  destructive  revolutions  at  the  various  ages 
or  epochs  of  our  planet." 

But  as  to  the  manner  in  which  these  oily  hydrocarbons  were 
originally  produced,  he  says  that  scientific  men  are  still  divided 
in  opinion.  I  have  italicised  a  portion  of  the  last  sentence  for 
the  reason  that,  as  I  believe,  an  elucidation  of  the  doubt  therein 


25 

expressed,  contains  the  key  of  the  whole  subject  of  the  origin  of 
oil.  Deferring  for  the  moment  what  is  to  be  said  in  this  respect, 
let  us  see  Professor  Erni's  further  opinions  on  the  subject  : 

"  That  petroleum  is  of  vegetable  or  rather  of  organic  origin, 
is  too  manifest  from  its  composition  to  require  argument." 

There  are  but  two  opinions,  he  says,  in  regard  to  the  manner 
of  its  production  which  require  notice.  "  The  one  is  that  oil  was 
derived  during  the  first  bituminization  or  conversion  of  woody 
fibre  into  coal.  The  other  maintains  that  coal  beds  or  bituminous 
rocks,  such  as  schists  and  shales  have  by  a  process  of  distillation 
yielded  up  their  oily  matter  which  they  derived  from  plants  and 
animals." 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  and  against  these  opinions  are 
stated  fully  and  at  length,  the  professor  finally  inclining  to 
sustain  the  first  hypothesis. 

But  it  is  manifest  that  whichever  of  these  opinions  be  true, 
they  both  fail  to  account  for  the  primary  origin  of  the  oil.  The 
first,  stating  "that  oil  was  derived  during  the  first  bituminization 
or  conversion  of  woody  fiber  into  coal,"  fails  to  account  for  the 
manner  in  which  the  primary  elements  of  the  oil  found  its  way 
into  the  woody  fiber,  in  order  to  be  extracted  by  this  process  of 
conversion  into  coal,  whence  they  came,  and  what  these  elements 
are  or  were,  the  opinion  does  not  explain. 

The  second  also  fails,  to  the  same  extent,  in  not  accounting  for 
the  manner  in  which,  or  the  source  from  which,  the  rocks  and 
schists  and  schales  derived  the  bituminous  matter  which  it  claims 
was  yielded  up  in  the  process  of  distillation.  Hence,  while 
either  of  these  positions  may  be  true  as  far  as  they  go,  they  do 
not  reach  the  root  of  the  matter,  nor  decide  the  question  as  to  the 
primary  origin  of  oil. 

The  expression  "primary  origin"  maybe  open  to  criticism,  for, 
the  reason  that  if  we  once  determine  the  origin  of  a  substance 


26 

there  can  be  nothing  more  primary  than  that ;  but  I  use  it  under- 
standingly,  and  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  I  intend  to  go 
beyond  the  point  where  oil  is  commonly  supposed  to  originate. 

There  may  now  be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  fact  that  this 
substance  has  been  traced  back  to  a  plaee  where  it  has  some  con- 
nection with  the  article  coal  and  its  relatives ;  .and  if  it  be  true 
that  "  petroleum  is  a  product  of  chemical  decomposition  derived 
from  organic  remains,  plants  and  animals,"  whence  came  the 
substance  contained  in  these  organic  remains  from  which  it  was 
derived  ?  An  answer  to  this  question  will  carry  us  far  back  in 
the  darkness  of  Time,  to  a  period  in  the  Earth's  history  which 
may  be  styled  the  beginning  of  all  created  things. 

The  great  mass  of  solid  and  liquid  matter — the  earth,  the 
rocks,  the  water,  and  the  fire  which  now  constitute  our  planet, 
were  once  but  a  shapeless  mass  of  nebulous  matter,  imponderable 
and  without  form.  This  matter  was  gaseous  in  its  nature,  and 
contained  within  itself  the  primitive  elements  of  all  things  which 
have  subsequently  and  do  now  appear  on  the  face  of  or  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  Earth.  By  the  fiat  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the 
Universe,  this  matter  was  given  motion  and  sent  on  its  mission 
among  the  celestial  spheres.  Gradually,  by  its  revolutionary 
motion  condensing  its  materials  about  the  center,  and  assuming  a 
spheroidal  form,  the  surface  became  more  condensed  and  a  crust 
began  to  appear,  and  here  beneath  this  crust,  and  mingled  in 
seeming  confusion,  were  contained  all  the  elements,  all  the  prim- 
itive principles  of  everything  we  see,  and  know,  and  feel — the 
ground  that  we  stand  upon — the  rocks  and  stones  beneath  our 
feet — the  gold,  the  silver,  the  copper,  tin,  lead,  and  all  mineral 
substances — the  waters  of  the  ocean  and  of  the  land,  of  all  plants 
and  vegetable  matter — and  of  the  whole  animal  kingdom,  from 
the  lowest  in  the  order  up  to  the  great  pinnacle,  the  microcosm 
man. 


27 

These  primary  elements  were,  and  are  yet — for  creation  has 
not  ceased — in  commotion;  boiling,  surging  and  upheaving;  par- 
ticular principles  seeking  and  finding  chemical  affinities,  and 
rushing  from  the  center  to  the  circumference,  slowly,  but  gradu- 
ally and  surely,  compounding  themselves  into  the  material  things 
which  we  now  see  around  us.  Low  down  in  the  Earth's  crust,  as 
far  as  man's  knowledge  has  enabled  him  to  penetrate,  we  find  the 
primitive  or  crystallized' rock,  such  as  the  granite  and  the  gneiss, 
wholly  devoid  of  all  appearances  of  vegetable  or  animal  matter ; 
then  the  Silurian,  or  the  age  of  mollusks,  the  lowest  order  of 
animal  life;  the  Devonian,  or  the  age  of  fishes,  the  first  verte- 
brates; and  then  the  Carboniferous,  or  the  age  of  coal,  in  which 
the  flora  of  Earth  probably  reached  its  rankest  and  most  luxu- 
riant growth.  And  thus  upward  did  creation  go,  until  the  soil 
was  prepared  for  man's  occupation,  and  the  surface  of  the  Earth 
became  lovely  and  beautiful  to  behold. 

All  of  this  occupied  countless  millions  of  ages,  so  long  that 
numbers  fail  to  express  any  meaning,  and  the  mind  of  man  can- 
not comprehend  the  numberless  centuries  which  have  elapsed 
since  the  "earth  was  without  form  and  void."  All  of  this  is 
clearly  demonstrated  by  what  little  we  yet  know  of  the  science 
of  geology,  though  it  may  contravene  some  of  the  established 
opinions  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  now  considered  a  w^ll-settled 
fact  among  the  scientific  men  of  the  world,  that  the  story  of  the 
creation  in  six  days  occurring  a  few  thousand  years  ago,  is  a 
mere  fable  related  at  a  time  when  the  human  intellect  was  inca- 
pable of  comprehending  any  more  elaborate  theory,  and  it  doc3 
not  require  any  given  amount  of  mere  book  learning  to  under- 
stand this  great  truth.  But  take  your  stand  for  once  on  the 
banks  of  that  great  chasm  at  Niagara,  and  cast  your  eye  down 
the  river  toward  Lewiston — behold  this  mighty  rush  and  whirl  of 
the  terrible  river,  learn  what  you  can  of  the  wear  of  the  water  on 
3 


28 

the  rocks  at  the  brink,  and  then  ask  yourself  the  question 
whether  this  great  gulf  was  cut  in  six  thousand,  or  six  hundred 
thousand  years. 

But  as  this  is  rather  a  diversion,  let  us  return  to  the  main 
question,  the  origin  of  petroleum. 

We  believe  that  this  article  is  one  of  the  primates  of  earth — 
one  of  the  primitive  elementary  principles — originating  in  the 
earth's  centre  and  finding  its  way  to  the  surface  just  as  all  other 
things  do,  combining  here  with  one  substance,  and  then  with 
another  ;  that  certain  original  gases  combining  to  form  bituminous 
matter,  and  the  hydrocarbons  of  commerce,  struggle  through  the 
rocks  of  the  earth,  find  their  way  into  the  caverns  and  seams 
made  by  erosion  or  upheavals,  and  these  sublime  or  condense 
into  the  substance  we  find  and  call  Petroleum  or  Rock  oil.  This 
may  be  a  mere  opinion,  founded  upon  no  substantial  facts  ;  but 
are  there  not  reasons  strong  in  its  favor  ?  Whence  come  the 
gold  and  silver,  the  precious  stones  and  gems  of  earth  ?  whence 
the  rocks,  and  stones,  and  soil  ?  how  were  they  formed  if  not  by 
a  chemical  combination  of  primitive  gases  and  elements — and 
why  not  oil  ? 

And  we  further  believe  that  all  of  the  oils  and  oily  matter 
found  everywhere  in  nature,  has  a  common  origin,  and  that 
origin  the  same  as  petroleum.  The  chemical  combinations  are 
different,  and  so  is  the  result,  and  thus  one  oil  differs  from 
another  in  particulars,  but  all  have  a  common  parentage. 

There  is  no  substance,  no  one  principle  more  common  in  nature 
than  this.  It  is  found  in  various  minerals,  in  the  rocks  and 
stones  of  earth,  and  it  pervades  the  entire  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms.  It  can  be  extracted  by  distillation  or  chemical  opera- 
tion from  anything  that  grows  or  lives,  the  common  oil  of 
turpentine  ;  of  the  castor  bean,  and  the  fusel  oil  of  grain,  are 
familiar    examples.     And   even   the  simple   grasses  which  grow 


29 

on  our  broad  prairies,  contain  the  same  principle ;  else  where  do 
the  cattle  which  live  almost  solely  upon  grasses  and  grain,  obtain 
that  oily  or  fatty  matter  which  alone  renders  them  fit  food  for 
man  ?  whence  comes  it,  if  not  from  the  very  heart  of  Mother 
Earth  herself? 

There  is  no  animal  that  lives,  not  excepting  man  himself,  that 
does  not  from  the  very  necessities  of  its  existence,  extract 
greater  or  less  quantities  of  this  element  from  the  food  upon 
which  it  thrives.  And  hence,  the  inference  is  plain  and  simple, 
that  this  common,  necessary,  and  all-pervading  element,  and 
without  which  there  would  be  no  life,  is  one  of  the  primary 
elements  of  earth — one  of  the  first  principles  of  nature.  In  the 
article  petroleum,  it  is  true  that  it  assumes  a  shape  different  from 
those  with  which  we  have  heretofore  been  familiar,  but  this  fact 
does  not  invalidate  the  truth  of  this  position  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
rather  tends  to  strengthen  it,  for  it  exhibits  the  principal  sub- 
stance in  a  state  or  condition  more  primitive  and  fresher  from  its 
fountain  head.  We  find  it  deep  down  among  the  rocks  and  stones 
long  before  it  reaches  the  surface,  or  is  called  upon  to  enter  into 
or  take  its  part  in  the  vegetation  which  grows  upon  the  soil. 

From  these  facts,  we  reason  that  this  oily  substance  is  one  of 
the  primates  of  earth — one  of  the  first  elements.  "VVe  infer  this 
from  its  universality  ;  it  is  everywhere  present — it  is  all-essen- 
tial— it  is  necessary  to  the  growth  of  all  vegetable  matter,  °ii 
the  animal  kingdom  cannot  exist  without  it.  It  is  in  the  blade 
of  grass,  the  grain  of  corn,  and  in  the  bodies  of  men  and  of 
beasts ;  it  is  one  of  the  very  elements  of  life  itself,  and  yet  this 
statement  is  subject  to  a  qualification;  while  we  say  "one  of  the 
first  elements  of  earth"  it  is,  well  also  to  say  that  the  strictly  simple 
elements  arc  few  in  number.  Chemistry  has  as  yet  found  only 
about  fifty-five  of  these,  and  nearly  or  quite  all  of  the  various 
forms  of  matter  are  compounds  of  some   two  or  more  of  these 


30 

simple  elements;  and  to  this  rule  petroleum  is  not  an  exception, 
for  it  is  a  compound  of  a  number  of  gases  and  substances.  We 
call  it  a  primate  in  a  general  sense,  and  not  under  the  rules  of  a 
chemical  analysis,  addressing  rather  the  common  understanding  of 
men,  than  the  critical  examination  of  some  particular  science 'T 
and  as  it  has  been  a  common  supposition  that  this  article  had  its 
origin  in  the  coal  measures,  which  we  believe  to  be  erroneous, 
this  theory  is  intended  more  to  correct  this  impression  and  to 
elucidate  the  truth,  than  to  lay  down  any  arbitrary  rule  on  the 
subject.  We  have  urged  the  primitive  nature  of  this  article  as 
much  from  the  fact  that  it  is  a  substance  primitive  to  the  senses 
of  man,  as  for  any  other  reason.  As  we  find  it  away  down  in  the 
rocks,  among  the  first  of  the  solids  and  fluids,  it  is  sensible  to  the 
touch,  to  the  sight,  to  the  smell ;  in  this  shape  or  form  this  is  the 
first  we  know  of  it,  and  in  that  sense  it  is  primary  to  us ;  and 
so  the  very  rocks  themselves — though  readily  resolved  by  the 
chemist  into  their  component  gases — are  called  primary;  they 
are  the  first  which  we  know  of  that  form  of  matter  which  is 
termed  rock,  and  hence  are  primary  to  the  senses. 

In  the  beautiful  Laboratory  of  Nature  the  creative  process  is 
in  continual  operation — it  goes  on  forever  and  forever;  the  simple 
elementary  principles  are  ever  forming  new  combinations,  new 
substances,  and  new  forms  of  matter.  The  chemist  who  resolves 
and  re-resolves  some  particular  substance  into  its  original 
elements,  is  simply  unfolding  or  disclosing  the  process  by  which 
his  great  Teacher  had  before  resorted  to,  to  compound  that 
specific  article,  and  while  nature  continues  at  her  work  the  man 
of  science  will  ever  find  new  fields  for  the  exercise  of  his  special 
talents. 

As  the  necessities  of  man  require  it,  or  as  the  progress  of  the 
race  in  civilization  requires  it,  nature  brings  forth  from  her  great 
store  house,  beneath   the  soil  and  the  rocks,  such   articles  and 


31 

substances  as  the  time  and  the  occasion  demand.  And  she  is  no 
niggard  with  her  wealth,  but  deals  it  out  in  profusion  and  Avith  a 
bounteous  hand.  Nor  does  she  recognize  an  elected  few  upon 
whom  alone  her  favors  are  bestowed,  but  she  gives  alike  to  the 
whole  brotherhood  of  man.  She  is  ever  forming  new  combinations, 
evolving  new  substances  and  creating  such  new  materials  as  are 
required  by  the  progressive  development  of  mind;  and  in  this 
material  which  we  call  petroleum,  she  has  produced  an  article,  of 
which  as  yet  we  have  but  a  limited  knowledge,  but  which  when 
we  come  fully  to  understand,  will  no  doubt  prove  in  its  results  and 
its  uses  one  of  the  most  beneficial  ever  bestowed  upon  mankind. 

The  article  petroleum  or  rock  oil  has  been  known  and  used  for 
hundreds  of  years  in  the  East,  but  the  quantity  was  limited  and 
its  uses  circumscribed.  It  was  left  to«the  energetic,  intelligent 
men  of  the  present  day  to  develop  it  in  vast  quantities — to  dis- 
cover its  virtues  and  its  uses,  and  to  apply  it  to  the  benefit  and 
comfort  of  the  race.  It  would  seem  that  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
Creator,  this  now  invaluable  product  had  been,  as  it  were,  con- 
cealed in  the  depths  of  earth,  until  civilization  and  education  had 
brought  the  human  race  up  to  that  position,  at  which  it  could  be 
most  beneficially  applied,  and  its  many  virtues  be  most  fully 
developed. 

Rapidly  has  it  grown  into  favor,  and  many  are  the  uses  and 
applications  of  this  article.  But  there  are  other  purposes  for 
which  it  will  in  time  be  used  which  will  far  surpass  any  now 
known.  It  will  no  doubt  eventually  be  produced  in  such  quanti- 
ties as  to  render  it  economical  as  a  fuel  for  ocean  navigation — 
for  why  carry  or  load  down  a  vessel  with  hundreds  of  tons  of 
cumbersome  coal,  when  one-third  the  weight  in  petroleum  would 
answer  the  same  purpose ;  the  fires  can  be  regulated  and  the  fuel 
fed  with  less  than  one-quarter  the  labor  it  now  takes  to  fire  with 
coal,  and  the  room  which  the  latter  now  occupies  would  be  free  for 


32 

other  and  more  useful  purposes.  The  great  steam  frigate  Dun- 
derberg  cannot  now  carry  coal  enough  to  take  her  across  the 
Atlantic.  With  petroleum  she  could  cross  three  times  with  the 
one  supply.  In  short,  there  is  no  possible  argument  against  the 
use  for  this  purpose,  except  the  present  cost ;  but  the  time  will 
eventually  come  when  this  objection  will  be  obviated  by  the 
enormous  product  of  the  country.  Another  article  of  great 
domestic  consumption  will  some  day  be  manufactured  from 
petroleum,  and  that  is  the  gas  of  cities — this  gas  now  made  from 
coal,  costs  from  two  dollars  and  a  half  to  four  dollars  per 
thousand  cubic  feet.  It  can  be  made  from  Benzine — a  product 
retained  in  the  refining  of  petroleum,  for  less  than  one-quarter 
the  price  of  ordinary  coal  gas — and  it  will  yet  be  done.  This 
question  has  been  already  opened,  and  a  number  of  machines 
have  been  constructed  to  convert  atmospheric  air  into  illumina- 
ting gas,  by  simply  passing  it  through  or  over  the  surface  of 
Benzine,  and  these  machines  work  successfully.  One  city, 
La  Crosse,  in  Wisconsin,  is  now  lighted  in  this  manner,  and 
several  large  factories  in  the  East  are  lighted  in  the  same  way. 
Among  many  others,  a  part  of  the  United  States  Armory  at 
Springfield,  Massachusetts;  and  Parker,  Snow  &  Co.'s  factory  at 
West  Meriden,  Connecticut.  Other  cities,  towns,  and  villages, 
will  follow  the  example,  and  soon  the  cheapness  and  utility  of 
this  method  will  supersede  the  old  one,  and  coal  gas  will  pass  out 
of  existence.  A  new  machine  has  been  recently  introduced  in 
the  West,  which  for  simplicity  of  construction  and  practicability 
appears  to  be  unequaled.  It  consists  simply  of  a  series  of  shallow 
pans,  placed  one  above  another.  These  pans  are  partially  filled 
with  Benzine;  the  pans  are  connected,  and  from  the  lower  one  the 
main  gas-pipe  issues.  Here  the  inventor  avails  himself  of  a  well- 
known  law  in  Natural  Philosophy — the  expansive  nature  of  gas — 
calls  it  to  his  aid  and  makes  it  do  his  work.     This  is  all   the 


33      . 

machinery  there  is ;  the  burner  is  opened,  the  current  of  aL 
commences,  passing  downward  and  over  the  fluid,  and  by  the 
time  it  enters  the  pipe,  is  sufficiently  charged.  This  operation 
continues  until  the  Benzine  is  consumed,  when  the  pans  are 
again  filled.  This  machine  can  be  placed  anywhere  in  a  dwell- 
ing house,  and  makes  gas  for  less  than  fifty  cents  per  thousand 
feet. 

Petroleum  is  also  fast  growing  into  favor  as  a  fuel,  for  domestic 
uses.  We  already  have  numerous  cooking  stoves,  designed  for 
and  successfully  using  this  substance.  It  is  said  even  at  the 
present  prices,  to  be  quite  as  economical  for  summer  stoves,  as 
either  wood  or  coal. 

A  learned  and  careful  authority  says : 

"As  a  fuel,  petroleum  enters  into  numerous  French  patents. 
The  people  of  the  Caspian  Sea  mix  it  with  clay;  the  Norwegians 
with  sawdust  and  clay.  The  refuse  charcoal  of  the  French  fur- 
naces is  mixed  with  charred  peat  or  spent  tar,  and  tar  or  pitch  is 
added,  and  the  whole  ground  or  coked.  As  an  illuminating  agent, 
coal  oil  is  fast  supplanting  the  animal  and  vegetable  oils.  It  has 
always  been  a  lamp  oil  of  India.  It  lights  the  streets  of  Genoa ; 
but  its  natural  odor  is  so  disgusting  that  its  use  in  Europe  was, 
for  a  long  while  after  its  discovery  in  Lombardy,  interdicted. 
Since  the  refining  process  was  discovered,  the  trade  has  spread 
to  every  city  in  the  Old  and  New  World,  and  the  annual  number 
of  patents  for  new  forms  of  lamp  and  new  kinds  of  candle  shows 
how  completely  the  kerosenes  and  parafines  are  banishing  the 
whale  oils  and  tallows  from  the  market." 

And  we  are  informed  that — 

"  The  experiment  is  being  practically  tested  at  the  Downer 
Refinery,  in  Corry,  Pennsylvania ;  where  it  was  giving  much 
satisfaction,  producing  a  heat  as  powerful  and  regular  as  any 
ever  produced  from    either   bituminous   or   anthracite  coal.     It 


34 

must  be  remembered  that  this  article  is  produced  from  what  was 
at  first  rejected  as  the  debris  or  useless  residuum  of  petroleum, 
but  it  is  now  coming  into  market  as  one  of  the  most  valuable 
products/' 

Petroleum  has  produced  new  colors.     Says  a  scientific  traveler  : 

"  Among  the  mos*t  favorite  colors  for  silk  goods,  ribbons,  etc., 
in  the  market,  is  a  color  produced  from  the  residuum  of  the 
petroleum,  and  manufactured  at  the  Humboldt  refinery,  near 
Plummer,  in  the  Oil  Creek  region.  It  is  a  bright  and  fixed 
cerulean  blue,  or  perhaps  a  shade  darker,  but  still  as  brilliant, 
and  is  called  the  Humboldt  color.  The  process  of  manufacturing 
is  kept  a  profound  secret  by  the  discoverers,  who  are  German 
chemists,  and  do  not  speak,  if  they  understand,  English.  No 
stranger  is  allowed  to  enter  their  works  except  by  special 
permission. " 

I  do  not  understand  that  as  yet  the  beautiful  aniline  colors, 
manufactured  from  coal  tar  have  been  found  to  exist  in 
petroleum,  but  new  developments  may  be  expected  in  this 
direction,  and  the  chemists  may  yet  startle  the  world  with  the 
intelligence  of  some  new  and  wonderful  substance  discovered  in 
Petroleum. 

"  Greek  fire"  is  a  compound  of  petroleum.  One  author  on 
the  subject  says : 

"The  'Greek  fire'  of  more  modern  times  was  probably 
compounded  of  petroleum  from  the  Zantean  springs.  From  the 
time  of  Zoroaster  the  Naphtha  of  Baku  has  been  sent  all  over 
Asia  for  the  service  of  the  sacred  fire  of  the  Parsees.  The 
liquid  streams  spontaneously  through  the  surface,  and  rises 
wherever  a  hole  is  bored.  But  especially  at  Belegan,  six  miles 
from  the  capital  village,  the  sides  of  the  mountain  stream  with 
black  oils,  which  collect  in  reservoirs  constructed  in  an  unknown 
ancient  time,  while  not  far  off  a  spring  of  white  oil  gushes  from 
the  foot." 


35 

As  an  illuminating  oil,  petroleum  is  too  well  known  to  need 
any  description  ;  for  a  rapidly  acquired  and  deserved  popularity 
it  has  never  had  an  equal. 

Just  as  the  sea  had  about  given  up  its  last  monster  to  furnish 
light  for  man,  the  creator  placed  the  knowledge  of  the  existence 
of  this  oil  before  the  human  mind ;  man  was  prepared  to  receive 
it,  and  it  came,  and  although  it  has  been  known  for  centuries  in 
the  older  countries — yet  it  seems  that  until  the  present  day,  it 
was  not  needed — and  hence  attracted  but  comparatively  little 
attention. 

I  have  thus  attempted  a  theory  on  the  origin  of  this  article, 
and  have  enumerated  a  few  of  its  uses.  If  the  first  does  not 
commend  itself  to  the  judgment  and  reason,  let  the  fact  that  all 
matters  pertaining  to  this  most  wronderful  substance,  possess  at 
the  present  time  an  unusual  interest,  be  my  apology. 

The  following  paragraph  from  a  writer  on  petroleum,  will  take 
us  back  to  the  spirit  of  the  work  in  which  we  are  engaged  on 
this  ground : 

"  Many  years  ago,  as  the  Seneca  Indians  have  the  tradition,  the 
Great  Spirit  appeared  to  one  of  their  chiefs  in  a  dream,  and  told 
him  that  if  he  would  proceed  to  a  certain  part  of  the  country  he 
wTould  find,  oozing  up  from  the  earth,  a  liquid  which  would  prove 
a  balm  for  the  cure  of  many  ailments  to  which  red  men  as  well 
as  white  men  were  heirs  to.  The  chief  proceeded  to  the  spot, 
and  there  found  the  balm  flowing  copiously  from  the  bosom  of  the 
earth.  The  instructions  of  the  vision  were  complied  with,  and 
sure  enough  the  liquid  proved  a  healing  ointment  to  the  tribes  of 
the  Senecas.  There  are  white  people  now  living  who  were  treated 
medicinally  by  these  Indians  with  this  ointment,  and  we  believe 
there  is  still  an  article  known  and  sold  in  the  drug  stores  as 
'  Seneca  oil.' " 


BOEING   THE   SECOND   WELL 


In  May  last,  a  twenty  foot  overshot  wheel  and  the  necessary 
machinery  for  boring,  with  the  water  power,  having  been  con- 
structed, the  work  on  this  well  was  commenced,  the  power  being 
furnished  by  the  water  from  the  first  well,  which  is  carried  up 
twenty-five  feet  above  the  surface  in  a  three  and  a  half  inch  tube 
to  the  flume,  which  discharges  it  over  the  wheel.  Although  the 
volume  of  water  is  comparatively  small  through  an  orifice  of  this 
size,  yet  the  great  diameter  of  the  wheel  is  an  ample  compensation 
in  this  respect,  and  furnishes  sufficient  power  for  the  purpose. 
For  the  construction  of  the  machinery,  and  the  successful  intelli- 
gent application  of  scientific  and  mechanical  knowledge  in  boring 
this  well  from  the  surface  to  the  water,  we  are  indebted  to  our 
friend,  the  general  superintendent  of  this  work,  Mr.  W.  T.  B. 
Read.  As  he  has  ever  manifested  an  interest  in  the  work, 
equaled  only  by  the  energy  and  skill  with  which  he  personally 
directed  its  execution,  it  is  but  just  that  we  pay  him  this  tribute, 
by  connecting  his  name  with  its  history. 

This  well,  like  its  predecessor,  was  located  through  the  clair- 
voyant powers  of  Mr.  James.  In  a  state  of  unconscious  trance, 
the  sniritual  intelligences  through  him  selected  the  precise  spot, 


37 

on  the  surface  beneath  which  the  water  would  be  again  found ; 
and  here  the  drill  went  down,  and  here  the  water  was  found. 

This  fountain  lies  deep  down  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  con- 
cealed from  the  natural  sight.  The  physical  senses  cannot 
perceive  it,  and  man  cannot  find  it,  but  the  intelligence  which 
made  this  revelation,  with  powers  of  vision  which  pertain  only  to 
the  Immortal,  said  to  us,  "  Come,  and  we  will  show  you  the 
exact  location  of  this  water,  and  we  will  demonstrate  at  once 
the  truth  of  clairvoyance,  and  the  fact  of  the  spiritual  com- 
munion." 

While  we  frankly  admit  the  existence  of  a  bare  possibility  of 
coming  upon  the  first  well  of  water  by  chance  accident  or  guess 
work,  yet  the  discovery  of  the  second  well  by  the  same  means, 
and  through  the  same  source  as  that  which  indicated  the  first, 
reduces  this  possibility  to  a  very  slight  thread ;  in  fact  turns  the 
scale  the  other  way,  and  as  a  mere  matter  of  evidence  the  pre- 
dicted result  twice  recurring,  seems  conclusively  to  demonstrate 
the  fact  that  these  things  are  what  they  claim  to  be,  and  not 
chance  accident  or  guess  work. 

The  second  well  is  located  about  nine  feet  distance  from  the 
first ;  is  694  feet  4  inches  in  depth,  to  the  surface  of  the  water ; 
was  commenced  on  the  8th  of  May,  and  reached  the  water  on  the 
1st  day  of  November  following.  There  are  no  striking  geological 
differences  in  the  two  wells,  the  rock  penetrated  being  almost  the 
same  in  character,  and  exhibiting  the  same  signs  of  oil.  The 
water  in  the  new  well  is  entirely  free  from  the  odor  of  sulphur 
perceptible  in  the  first  well ;  this  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
vein  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  which  enters  the  well  before 
it  reaches  the  fountain,  was  not  touched  in  boring  the  second 
well. 

This  water  may  now  be  considered  as  the  clearest,  purest  and 


38 

best  in  the  world.  On  the  surface  of  the  ground  there  is 
none  like  it,  and  no  other  Artesian  well  approaches  it  in  purity  or 
temperature. 

In  the  absence  of  any  accurate  measurement,  we  conjecture 
that  the  two  wells  are  now  flowing  about  twelve  hundred  thou- 
sand gallons  per  day. 


The  subjoined  diary  of  the  practical  part  of  the  boring  of  this 
well,  with  some  remarks  on  the  subject  generally,  may  be  of 
public  interest,  and  are  given  accordingly  : 

May  8,  1885.  Commenced  drilling  with  rods,  in  the  solid  rock,  at  the  surface, 
having  first  blasted  and  removed  the  loose  rock,  to  the  depth  of  five  feet.  Drilled 
eleven  feet  this  day,  in  the  dark,  porous  limestone,  sixteen  feet  from  the  floor  of 
the  derrick. 

May  9.     Eight  feet.     Gray  limestone.     Total,  twenty-four  feet. 

May  10.  Drill  fast  in  the  Well,  at  twenty-six  feet.  Jarring  all  day  and  all 
night.     Suppose  that  a  loose  stone  fell  on  the  top  of  the  tools. 

May  11.  Still  jarring.  The  tool  was  a  single-faced,  five  inch  chisel  drill. 
Stone  probably  caught  on  the  shoulder  of  the  drill. 

May  12.  The  continual  use  of  the  jar  loosened  the  drill  to-day,  and  it  was 
recovered. 

May  13.  Drilled  six  feet,  to-day — total,  thirty-two  feet.  At  thirty  feet,  pene- 
trated the  buff'  limestone  called  here  the  Athens  or  Joliet  Marble. 

May  15.     Drilled  five  feet.     Depth  thirty-seven  feet.    Marble. 

May  1G.     To-day,  eight  feet — same  as  above. 

May  17.     To-day,  six  feet — same  as  above. 

May  18.     To-day,  two  feet — same  as  above. 

May  19.     To-da}r,  four  feet — same  as  above. 

May  20.    To-day,  four  feet — same  as  above — total  sixty-one. 

May  22.  Drill  got  fast.  Probably  falling  stones.  Recovered  same  day  by 
use  of  jars. 

May  23.     To-day,  six  feet.     Marble.     Total  sixty-seven  feet. 

May  24.     Today,  eight  feet.     Marble.     Total  seventy-five  feet. 

May  25.     To-day,  ten  feet.     Marble.     Total  eighty-five  feet. 

May  26.     To-day,  nine  feet.     Marble.     Total  ninety-four  feet. 

At  this  point,  we  introduced  a  new  reamer,  for  the  purpose  of  trueing  up 
the  Well,  and  spent  five  days  in  reaming  that  which  had  been  already  drilled. 
And  now,  instead  of  using  the  single  five  inch  drill,  a  new  drill,  3%  inches  in 
diameter,  was  inserted,  and  followed  by  a  five  inch  reamer,  and  this  manner  of 
drilling  was  retained  to  the  end. 

June  2.    To-day,  nine  feet.    Marble.    Total,  one  hundred  and  three  feet. 

June  3.    To-day,  twelve  feet.    Marble.    Total,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet. 

June  5.    To-day,  six  feet.     Gray  stone,  six  feet  thick. 

June  6.  To-day,  twelve  feet.  Marble.  Total,  one  hundred  and  thirty-three 
feet. 


39 

June  7.    To-day,  nine  feet.    Marble.    Total,  one  hundred  and  forty-two  feet. 

June  8.    To-day,  nine  feet.     Marble.     Total,  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  feet. 

June  9.    To-day,  six  feet.     Marble.     Total,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  feet. 

June  10.    To-day,  three  feet.     Marble.    Total,  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet. 

June  12.    To-day,  six  feet.     Marble.     Total,  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet. 

June  13.  To-day,  seven  feet.  Marble.  Total,  one  hundred  and  seventy-three 
feet. 

June  14.  To-day,  three  feet.  Marble.  Total,  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
feet. 

Straps  pulled  off  the  poles  and  the  tools  left  in  the  well. 

June  15.     Working  for  the  tools  in  the  Well. 

June  16.    Tools  recovered. 

June  17.    To-day,  six  feet.    Marble.    Total,  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  feet. 

June  19.    To-day,  nine  feet.     Gray  limestone,  twelve  feet  thick. 

June  20.  To-day,  six  feet.  Marble,  again.  Total,  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  feet. 

June  21.    To-day,  six  feet.    Marble.    Total,  two  hundred  and  three  feet. 

June  22.    Repairing. 

June  23.    To-day,  three  feet.    Marble.    Total,  two  hundred  and  six  feet. 

June  24.     To-day,  nine  feet.     Marble,  perfectly  white,  and  very  fine  grained. 

From  June  26  to  July  10,  we  were  engaged  in  changing  the  machinery,  from 
the  pole  drilling  to  that  of  a  rope,  and  from  this  date  the  rope  was  alone 
used — having  abandoned  the  poles,  as  an  old  and  hazardous  method,  and  adopted, 
in  their  stead,  the  more  modern,  and  safer  and  more  expeditious  method  of  the 
rope.    We  use  a  four  and  one-half  inch  three-ply  cable  laid  hawser. 

July  10.    To-day,  four  feet.    Marble.    Total,  two  hundred  and  nineteen  feet. 

July  11.  To-day,  six  feet.  Marble.  Total,  two  hundred  and  twenty-four 
feet. 

July  12.  To-day,  three  feet.  Marble.  Total,  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
feet. 

July  13.    To-day,  three  feet.    Marble.    Total,  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet. 

July  14.  To-day,  six  feet.  Gray  limestone.  Total,  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  feet. 

July  15.  To-day,  six  feet.  Gray  limestone.  Total,  two  hundred  and  forty- 
two  feet. 

July  17.  To-day,  six  feet.  Gray  limestone,  dark.  Total,  two  hundred  and 
fort}r-eight  feet. 

July  18.  To-day,  twelve  feet.  Gray  limestone,  dark.  Total,  two  hundred 
and  sixty  feet. 

This  gray  limestone  was  thirty  feet  thick. 

July  19.    To-day  nine  feet.    Marble,  again,  nearly  white. 

July  20.  To-day,  twelve  feet.  Marble.  Total,  two  hundred  and  eighty-one 
feet. 

July  21.    To-day,  nine  feet.    Marble.    Total,  two  hundred  and  ninety  feet. 

July  22.  To-day,  twelve  feet.  Sediment,  mixed  gray  and  white,  evidently 
running  into  a  darker  stratum. 

July  24.  To-day,  ten  feet.  Dark  gray  stone.  Total,  three  hundred  and 
twelve  feet. 

July  25.  To-day,  eight  feet.  Gray  and  white  mixed  running  out.  Eighteen 
feet  of  dark  gray  limestone. 

July  26.  To-day,  twelve  feet.  Light  gray  limestone.  Total,  three  hundred 
and  thirty-two  feet. 

July  27.  To-day,  eleven  feet.  Light  gray  limestone.  Total,  three  hundred 
and  forty-three  feet, 

July  28.  To-day,  ten  feet.  Light  gray  limestone.  Total,  three'  hundred  and 
fifty-three  feet,  f 

July  29.  To-day,  nine  feet.  Light  gray  limestone.  Total,  three  hundred 
and  sixty-two  feet. 

July  31.    To-day,  eight  feet.    Dark  stone,  very  hard. 


40 


August  1.    To-day,  five  feet, 
and  seventy-five  feet. 

August  2.    To-day,  four  feet, 
seventy-nine  feet. 

August  3.    To-day,  four  feet, 
eighty-three. 

August  4.    To-day,  two  feet, 
to  twelve  inches. 

August  5.    To-day,  five  feet, 
feet. 

August  7.    To-day,  five  feet. 


Dark  stone,  very  hard.  Total,  three  hundred 
Hard  and  flinty.  Total,  three  hundred  and 
Hard  and  flinty.  Total,  three  hundred  and 
Still  harder.  Wears  out  the  drill  in  from  six 
Very  hard.  Total,  three  hundred  and  ninety 
Gray  limestone  and  flint.    Total,  three  hundred 


and  ninety-five  feet. 

August  8.  Lost  the  drill  to-day.  The  bit  or  drill  became  loosened  where 
the  auger  stem  joins,  and  washed  oft*.  The  loss  was  not  discovered  for  three 
hours,  and,  during  the  whole  of  that  time,  the  entire  weight  of  the  tools,  about 
eight  hundred  pounds,  was  falling  upon  the  head  of  the  bit,  in  the  bottom  of 
the  Well.  By  these  repeated  blows,  the  upper  end  of  the  drill  was  driven 
one  and  one-quarter  inches  in  the  side  of  the  well,  under  a  shelf  or  shoulder. 
The  Well  had  rather  a  dark  look  to-day. 

August  15.  Drill  recovered,  after  a  week's  work,  and  recovery  effected  by 
means  of  a  ring  grab.  Particulars  cannot  be  given  without  drawings.  Four 
hundred  feet.    Drilled  five  feet  today.     Stone  and  shale. 

August  16.    To-day,  eight  feet.    Rock  and  shale  mixed. 

August  17.  To-day,  seven  feet.  Clear  shale,  very  tough  and  sticky.  This 
shale  is  very  dark  blue,  is  saturated  with  petroleum  and  appears  like  putty. 

August  18.  To-day,  five  feet.  Shale.  Total,  four  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet. 

To-day,  ten  feet.     Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  thirty -five  feet. 
To-day,  nine  feet.     Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  forty-four 


August  19. 

August  21. 
feet. 

August  22. 
feet. 

August  23. 
feet. 

August  24. 
feet. 

August  25. 
feet. 

August  26. 

August  28. 

August  29. 
feet. 

August  30. 

August  31. 
feet. 

September  1.    To-day,  ten  feet.    Shale.    Total,  five  hundred  and  forty-three  feet. 

September  2.  Accident  to  tools.  Screws  broken  at  all  the  joints,  but  nothing 
in  the  Well.  Depth,  by  accurate  measure,  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet,  and 
good  showing  of  oil.  'Sediment  shows  a  coating  of  oil  at  every  pumping,  as  it 
has  done  all  through  this  band  of  shale. 

September  4.     To-day,  three  feet.     Plard  rock.     Sandstone.     The  first  encoun- 
the  drill  very  fast.     This  stone  is  reddish  in  color,  and  seems 


To  day,  eleven  feet.     Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  fifty-five 

To-day,  twelve  feet.    Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  sixty-seven 

To-day,  thirteen  feet.     Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  eighty 

To-day,  twelve  feet.     Shale.    Total,  four  hundred  and  ninety-two 

To-day,  eleven  feet.  Shale.  Total,  five  hundred  and  three  feet. 
To-day,  eight  feet.  Shale.  Total,  five  hundred  and  eleven  feet. 
To-day,  nine  feet.    Shale.     Total,  five  hundred  and  twenty-five 


Repairing. 
Tc-day,  eight  feet. 


Shale.    Total,  five  hundred  and  thirty -three 


To-day,  six  feet. 

Good  show  of  oil. 

To-day,  six  feet.    1ST©  change 


Same  as  above.     Total,  five  hundred  and 


tered.     Wears 
filled  with  oil. 

September  5. 
sixtj  -four  feet. 

September  G. 
feet. 

September  7.  To-day,  four  feet.     No  change.     Oil.     Total,  five  hundred  and 
seventy-four  feet. 


Total,  five  hundred  and  seventy 


41 

September  8.    To-day,  six  feet.    White  flint.    Iron  pyrites. 

September  9.    To-day,  five  feet.    Very  hard.     Oil  at  every  pumping. 

September  10.  To-day,  Sunday,  measured  Well,  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
feet,  and  shows  oil. 

September  11.  To-day,  five  feet,  through  very  hard  flinty  limestone.  Renewed 
drill  every  twelve  inches.  Shows  of  oil.  Total  depth,  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  feet. 

September  12.  The  hardest  rock  yet  met  with.  One  drill  only  went  two 
inches.  The  second,  only  three  inches.  Still  shows  oil.  Drilled  six  feet.  Total, 
five  hundred  and  ninety -nine  feet. 

September  13.  At  ten,  P.  M.,  this  day,  the  jars  broke,  leaving  reamer  three 
feet  long,  auger  stem,  twenty  feet  long,  and  lower  part  of  the  jar,  eighteen  inches 
long,  in  the  bottom  of  the  Well,  six  hundred  and  five  feet. 

September  14  to  20.  Making  a  grab  to  recover  the  tools.  This  grab  is  a 
hollow  cylinder,  with  a  loose  pawl  or  valve,  made  to  go  over  the  lost  tools,  and 
catch  as  it  comes  up.     Cannot  be  described  without  a  drawing. 

September  22  to  24.  After  several  attempts,  and  breaking  and  losing  a  num- 
ber of  pawls,  finally  got  over  and  a  firm  hold  of  the  tools,  and  at  six,  P.  M.,  on 
the  24th,  they  were  all  safely  brought  to  the  surface. 

September  26.  Made  seventeen  inches,  with  foui  drills — the  broken  pawls 
and  pieces  of  steel  in  the  bottom  of  the  Well  retarding  the  progress  of  the  drill. 
Six  hundred  and  six  feet,  five  inches. 

September  27.  Very  hard  sand  and  flint  rock.  Made  two  feet,  in  twenty-four 
houis.     Six  hundred  and  nine  feet.     Shows  of  oil  lost. 

September  28.  Hard,  reddish  sandstone.  Three  feet.  Total,  six  hundred  and 
twelve  feet. 

September  29.     Same  stone.    Three  feet.    Total,  six  hundred  and  fifteen  feet. 

September  30.  Same  as  above.  Three  feet.  Total  six  hundred  and  eighteen 
feet. 

October  1.  To-day,  three  feet.  Same  rock.  Broke  the  jars  last  night,  but  the 
tools  came  out  safely.     Total,  six  hundred  and  twenty-one  feet. 

October  2.  To-day,  six  feet.  Same  rock.  Total,  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  feet. 

October  3.    To-day,  three  feet.    Same  rock.    Total,  six  hundred  and  thirty  feet. 

October  4.  To-day,  six  feet.  Same  rock.  Total,  six  hundred  and  thirty-six 
feet. 

October  5.  To-day,  six  feet.  Same  rock.  Total,  six  hundred  and  forty-two 
feet. 

October  6.  To-day,  six  feet.  Same  rock.  Total,  six  hundred  and  forty-eight 
feet. 

October  7.  To-day,  eight  feet.  Sandstone,  but  much  softer.  By  accurate 
measure,  to-day,  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  and 'six  inches. 

October  8.  Six  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  this  morning.  No  sediment  from  the 
sand  pump.  Well  commenced  overflowing  quite  freely  last  night,  and  the  old 
Well  diminished  in  its  overflow  three-fourths  of  an  inch — showing  that  a  crevice 
or  seam,  leading  from  the  old  well,  had  been  tapped  by  the  new  one. 

October  9.  Drilled  three  feet.  No  change.  Total,  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  feet. 

October  10.  Drilled  six  feet.  No  sediment.  Water  washes  it  all  up.  Total, 
six  hundred  and  sixty  nine  feet. 

October  11.     Drilled,  to-day,  six  feet.    Total,  six  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet. 

October  12.  Drilled,  last  night,  three  feet.  At  nine  o'clock,  to-day,  the  Jan. 
broke  off,  leaving  drill,  auger  stem  and  broken  jar  in  the  bottom  of  the  Wefl. 

October  13,  14  and  15.  After  several  attempts  with  the  hollow  grab,  finally 
got  hold  of  the  tools,  on  the  15th,  and  recovered  them. 

October  16.  Drilled  all  day,  but  made  no  progress.  Some  iron  cuttings  on 
the  drill.     Water  flowing  very  freely. 

October  17.  Drilled  all  night.  Made  three  feet.  Depth,  six  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  feet. 


42 

October  18.  Drilled  three  feet.  Total,  six  hundred  and  eighty-one  feet.  No 
special  change. 

October*  19.    Drilled  four  feet.    Total,  six-hundred  and  eighty -five  feet. 

October  20.  At  nine  o'clock  this  evening,  jars  broke,  split  open,  left  the  lowei 
part  of  the  jar,  auger,  stem  and  reamer  in  the  Well,  at  686  feet. 

October  21,  22,  23  and  24.  Made  several  attempts  with  the  hollow  grab  to  get 
hold  of  the  tools,  but  were  unsuccessful. 

October  25.  Cut  off  and  pointed  the  broken  part  of  the  jar,  and  inserted  in  the 
side  a  steel  drop  key,  with  a  slot  cut  in  the  opposite  side  of  the  jar ;  lowered 
this  in  the  Well  with  a  sinker  bar  and  another  pair  of  jars  attached.  The 
broken  jar  thus  arranged,  slipped  at  once  over  its  counter  part  in  the  Well,  the 
key  dropped  to  its  place,  and  the  tools  were  caught.  They  came  to  the  surface 
in  less  than  thirty  minutes. 

October  27.  Drilled  three  feet  last  night.  Depth  of  Well  this  morning,  six 
hundred  and  eighty-eight  feet,  ten  inches. 

October  28  and  29.  Drilled  forty-eight  hours  and  made  no  progress — drills 
not  worn  or  defaced — come  up  as  sharp  as  they  go  down,  but  the  bevel  sides  of 
the  drills  are  highly  polished,  and  magnetized  steel  filings  adhere  to  the  sides  of 
the  drill,  which  assume  the  appearance  of  having  been  covered  with  quicksilver, 
like  the  back  of  a  mirror.  Face  of  the  drills  perfect,  but  much  worn  at  the 
sides — finally  conclude  that  we  are  drilling  in  a  crevice,  the  sides  of  which  are 
composed  of  iron  pyrites,  the  drill  never  striking  on  its  face. 

October  30.  Appearance  of  working  through — made  some  better  progress — 
some  sediment  showing  in  the  water,  and  finally  made  three  feet. 

October  31.  At  three  o'clock  this  morning  the  screw  on  the  auger  stem  broke, 
and  left  it  and  the  reamer  in  the  bottom  of  the  well.  Depth  six  hundred  and 
ninety-one  feet  and  ten  inches.  This  is  the  fourth  time  the  tools  have  been  lost 
since  the  Well  was  down  600  feet.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  u  ring  grab"  was 
lowered  and  made  fast,  and  the  tools  came  out  at  once — at  work  drilling  again 
at  one  o'clock. 

November  1.  Wednesday.  At  a  quarter  before  one  A.  M.,  this  morning,  the 
drill  penetrated  the  arch  of  the  rock  in  the  cavity  before  referred  to,  and 
the  water  came  to  the  surface  in  great  volumes.  Depth  of  the  Well  to  the  top 
of  the  cavity,  six  hundred  and  ninety-four  feet  and  four  inches. 

November  2.  Reamed  out  the  last* three  feet,  to  the  water,  making  the  Well 
full  size  of  five  inches  all  the  way  down — the  volume  of  water  much  increased 
by  the  reaming,  and  the  overflow  in  the  old  Well  much  diminished,  having  fallen 
to  about  four  inches.  This  diminution  is  caused  by  the  elevation  of  the  water 
in  the  former  Well  to  a  height  of  twenty -five  feet  above  the  surface,  whije  the 
new  Well  is  discharging  upon  the  surface.  If  both  Wells  were  discharging  at 
the  same  level,  the  overflow  would  of  course  be  the  same,  and  each  well  would 
discharge  relatively  a  quantity  of  water  in  proportion  to  its  size. 


A  FEW  REMARKS  ON  THE  PRACTICAL  PART 
OF  WELL  BORING. 

Formerly  the  boring  of  an  Artesian  well  was  regarded  as  an 
extremely  difficult  and  hazardous  undertaking,  and  even  now  with- 
all  of  the  experience  furnished  by  the  Pennsylvania  oil  wells, 
there  are  frequently  great  troubles  encountered,  and  many  wells 
are  lost  by  accidents  to  the  tools,  &c. 


43 

We  have  learned  one  or  two  important  facts,  which  may  perhaps 
be  profitably  considered  by  those  who  are  engaged  in  operations 
of  this  kind. 

First. — The  greatest  desideratum,  the  end  of  the  chief  and 
first  importance,  is  to  get  a  'perfectly  true,  round  well ;  this  secured, 
all  other  things  are  comparatively  easy. 

Second. — No  single  tool,  whatever  may  be  its  shape,  whether  Z., 
H.,  or  Star,  will  at  one  cutting  make  a  true  well;  it  will  more  than 
likely  worm  a  hole  in  the  earth  like  an  auger  or  a  cork-screw. 

Our  second  well  is  as  true  as  a  gun  barrel,  and  perfectly  round. 
We  have  introduced  a  tool  grab,  sixteen  feet  in  length,  its  diameter 
within  less  than  one-quarter  of  an  inch  of  the  size  of  the  well, 
and  it  descended  six  hundred  and  ninety  feet  in  one  minute  by 
the  watch,  without  a  touch  or  a  jar.  This  well  was  bored  with  a 
three  and  three-quarter  inch  chisel  bit,  sharpened  to  a  knife  edge, 
as  sharp  as  it  could  be  made  and  stand  the  force  of  the  blow, 
(about  900  pounds  raised  two  feet,)  and  then  followed  every  three 
feet  (the  length  of  the  bit)  with  a  full  five  inch  rimmer.  This 
rimmer  is  of  a  peculiar  construction,  and  we  believe  unlike  any  in 
use,  and  for  the  purpose  intended,  is  a  perfect  tool ;  it  has  two 
three  and  a  half  inch  faces,  the  outer  edges  of  which  are  of 
course  circular,  conforming  to  the  circumference  of  the  well,  and 
the  tool  is  so  made  that  bits  of  rock  or  stone  falling  into  the  well 
above  the  rimmer,  will  work  down  below  it,  and  thus  prevent  the 
binding  and  fastening  of  the  tools.  This  tool  drives  down  a  three- 
quarter  inch  shoulder,  knocking  the  spawls  into  the  centre  already 
cut  out  by  the  bit,  and  makes  a  mechanically  true  round  well. 

The  value  of  this  latter  fact  will  always  be  seen  in  cases  of 

accidents  to  the  tools.     You  can  recover  tools  from  a  true  well  in 

ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  when  in  an  imperfect  well 

the  reverse  of  the  proposition  would  be  true,  and  the  well  almost 

inevitably  be  lost. 
4 


44 

Boring  with  rods  is  out  of  date,  a  thing  of  the  past,  yet  there 
are  persons  who  still  persist  in  it ;  and  such  will  spend  one-half 
of  the  working  hours  in  getting  the  tools  out  of  the  well  and  then 
putting  them  back.  By  all  means  use  the  rope,  it  is  safe  and  ex- 
peditious. Beware  of  patent  tools,  cutters  and  drills,  especially 
those  "  which  drill  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  feet  per  day  in  the 
hardest  rock"  The  simple  chisel  bit  and  rimmer  will  do  the  work 
well,  and  as  fast  as  it  is  wanted. 

A  well  of  five  inches  is  better  than  one  of  four  or  four  and  a 
half,  for  it  enables  you  to  use  stronger  tools,  and  in  case  of  acci- 
dent it  enables  you  to  get  around  and  hold  them.  Get  the 
best  Lowmoor  iron  jars ;  have  them  made  good  and  strong,  and 
never  drill  more  than  300  feet  with  one  pair.  You  should  have 
three  pairs  for  a  well  of  600  feet  and  over,  and  should  have  all  of 
your  tools  in  duplicate.  Use  a  tin  or  a  thin  copper  sand  pump, 
and  never  permit  an  iron  pump  to  be  inserted  in  your  well.  You 
can  drill  the  tin  one  out  in  an  hour  if  it  should  get  fast,  but  with 
an  iron  one  you  would  probably  lose  the  well. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  AND  GEOLOGY  OP  UNDER 
GROUND  STREAMS. 

It  is  a  well  settled  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  the  water  which 
falls  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  penetrates  the  soil  and  porous 
rocks,  and  becomes  subterraneous.  And  there  are  also  under- 
ground streams  which  are  not  the  result  of  this  law,  but  which 
have  their  rise  in  hills,  mountains  and  elevated  lands,  and  are  fed 
by  the  rains  and  snows.  Professor  Dana  says  that  these  waters 
become  underground  streams  by  following  the  dip  of  tilted  strata. 
The  layers  of  limestone  and  sandstone  never  fit  together  so  closely 
but  that  waters  may  find  their  way  between  them. 

Many  of  these  subterranean  streams  are  of  great  size,  quite 


45 

entitled  to  the  name  of  rivers,  as  is  witnessed  in  the  Mammoth 
Cave  in  Kentucky,  the  Adelsburg  Mountains  in  Austria,  and  in 
the  Jura  Mountains,  in  Switzerland,  where  the  waters  pour  out  of 
the  sides  of  the  hills,  in  quantities  sufficient  to  turn  the  machinery 
of  a  mill. 

Pervious  strata  beds  of  sand  and  gravel  and  sandstones  fre- 
quently alternate  with  those  which  are  impervious,  such  as  lime- 
stones, granite,  and  beds  of  clay.  Water  finds  its  way  through 
the  pervious  strata,  descending  until  it  rests  upon  the  impervious 
rock,  which  becomes  the  bed  of  the  stream ;  here  it  winds  its  way 
along,  following  the  tilts  and  inclinations  until  it  finally  becomes, 
as  it  were,  compressed  between  two  impervious  layers,  and  is  simi- 
lar in  many  respects  to  water  in  a  pipe  leading  from  a  reservoir ; 
there  is  neither  current  nor  motion  until  the  pipe  is  tapped,  when 
it  rushes  to  the  surface,  often  with  great  force.  Artesian  wells 
are  usually  bored  (and  it  has  hitherto  been  considered  necessary 
to  success  that  the  rule  should  be  followed)  in  vallies  or  on  plains 
surrounded  by  hills  or  elevated  lands. 

Theoretically  water  rises  to  the  level  of  its  fountain  head,  but 
practically  it  falls  much  short  of  it,  owing  to  the  friction  and  the 
resistance  of  the  atmosphere,  so  that  water  which  rises  one  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  surface  at  its  outlet,  has  a  head  or  source  much 
higher. 

The  water  furnished  by  Artesian  wells  increases  in  temperature 
in  proportion  to  the  depth,  so  that  taking  the  average  of  the 
known  wells  of  the  world,  this  increase  has  been  proved  to  be  1° 
F.,  for  every  fifty-one  feet  of  descent.  Water  is  discharged 
by  various  wells  from  65°  to  95°,  and  this  temperature  is  always 
below  the  mean  of  the  location  of  the  well.  It  is  by  this  means 
that  geologists  determine  the  heat  of  the  earth's  crust,  arid  can 
with  a  tolerable  degree  of  accuracy  fix  the  point  at  which  the 
mass  is  liquid  fire. 


46 

These  are  a  few  of  the  simple  principles  applicable  to  Artesian 
wells. 

The  boring  of  the  two  wells  in  Chicago  has  brought  to  light 
some  new  facts  which  I  think  have  not  been  heretofore  known, 
and  which  are  at  variance  with  supposed  well  settled  principles. 

The  first  of  these  facts,  is,  that  Chicago,  where  these  wells  are 
located,  is  a  plain  or  prairie,  nearly  level,  and  surrounded  by  a 
level  country  for  many  hundreds  of  miles  ;  there  is  neither  valley 
nor  depression  here,  as  there  is  neither  hill  nor  mountain.  Lake 
Superior,  some  three  hundred  miles  distant,  has  a  level  of  only 
thirty-nine  feet  above  that  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  there  are  no 
intervening  highlands  ;  there  is  simply  a  rolling  prairie  extending 
north  into  Wisconsin,  and  west  into  Iowa,  while  south  for  some 
two  hundred  miles,  stretches  the  Grand  Prairie  of  Illinois.  About 
ten  miles  west  of  Chicago  is  a  ridge  called  the  "  Summit,"  the 
elevation  of  which  is  about  twenty-five  feet  above  the  level  of 
Lake  Michigan.  This  ridge  divides  the  waters  which  empty  into 
the  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
On  the  western  slope  of  this  summit  is  the  Desplaines  River,  a 
tributary  of  the  Illinois,  while  the  Chicago  River  flows  from  the 
eastern  slope  into  Lake  Michigan,  and  these  waters  through  the 
St.  Lawrence  into  the  ocean. 

As  the  water  from  these  wells  has  a  head  of  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  feet  above  Lake  Michigan,  and  eighty-six  feet 
above  Lake  Superior,  we  must  look  to  some  more  remote  point 
for  the  head  or  true  source  of  supply. 

And  here  another  consideration  presents  itself  which  may  throw 
some  light  on  the  subject.  When  the  water  first  came  to  the  sur- 
face the  temperature  was  nearly  59°  F.  After  discharging  some 
two  hundred  millions  of  gallons,  the  temperature  has  fallen  to 
57°,  or  about  two  degrees  lower  than  when  first  struck.  Now  the 
fact  that  this  water  was  found  so  muc1"1  colder  than  the  mean  tern- 


47 

perature  of  Chicago  at  a  depth  of  700  feet,  and  that  the  tempera- 
ture decreased  with  the  descent  of  the  drill,  instead  of  increasing 
as  had  been  the  usual  experience,  presents  an  anomaly  which 
geologists  may  profitably  study.  And  then  comes  the  fact  still 
more  strange  that  the  temperature  of  the  water  is  still  falling — 
that  the  more  it  discharges  the  colder  it  gets.  There  is  seemingly 
no  solution  of  this  problem  but  to  locate  the  head  or  source  of 
this  water  at  some  remote  point  in  the  mountains  of  the  North  or 
Northwest,  some  place  where  the  mean  temperature  may  be  57° 
or  less,  as  there  is  a  probability  that  the  diminution  in  tempera- 
ture may  continue,  and  the  continuous  discharge  at  the  outlet  has 
drawn  the  water  from  nearer  its  fountain  head  and  consequently 
much  colder  water  is  obtained  now  than  when  it  first  issued  from 
the  ground. 

The  fact  of  the  low  temperature  of  the  water  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  head  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  seems 
to  point  almost  conclusively  to  its  source  in  some  of  the  distant 
mountains  beyond  the  Mississippi;  and  these  two  facts  also  show 
that  the  wells  are  not  supplied  by  the  percolations  of  water 
through  porous  strata,  finding  its  way  to  the  depressions  of  a  val- 
ley, but  that  it  comes  through  the  seams  and  crevices  of  the  rocks, 
working  its  way  for  many  hundreds  of  miles  through  the  crust 
of  the  earth. 


CONCERNING  SPIRITUALISM. 
Thus  one  by  one  the  great  facts  in  support  of  the  Spiritual 
Philosophy  accumulate;  manifestations  of  the  spirit  power  are 
now  of  daily  occurrence,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  investigators 
are  increasing  the  immense  volume  of  testimony  now  on  the  record 
in  proof  of  its  truth.  At  no  distant  time  it  will  be  ranked  among 
the  positive  nhilosophies.     Its  principles,  at  once  simple  and  sub- 


48 

lime,  commend  themselves  to  the  human  heart,  and  its  facts  to 
the  human  reason.  To  those  who  come  unprejudiced,  and  impar- 
tial to  an  investigation  of  its  merits,  there  is  no  escape  from 
its  conclusions.  Discarding  the  fables  of  antiquity,  and  shat- 
tering the  fetters  which  bind  the  mind  down  to  the  slavery  of  the 
past,  Spiritualism  rises  at  once  grandly  and  proudly  to  an  exalted 
conception  of  creation;  studying  the  Creator,  not  in  the  tales 
and  traditions  of  the  dark  ages,  but  in  the  manifestations  in  the 
works  of  God  which  everywhere  surround  us. 

As  the  geologist,  the  reader  of  the  great  stone  book,  unfolds  its 
leaves  and  tells  us  of  the  millions  of  years  of  creation;  of  the 
gradual  development  of  vegetable  aod  animal  life  through  thou- 
sands of  centuries,  and  demonstrates  its  truth  by  pointing  to  the 
record  which  God  has  written  in  the  rocks;  so  Spiritualism  adopts 
what  geology  teaches,  and  casts  aside  the  fabulous  story  of  a 
special  creation  in  a  few  days  of  time,  preferring  the  more  enlarged, 
more  comprehensive,  and  more  natural  view  of  the  work  of  God, 
to  the  purely  mythical  view  resting  only  upon  a  fatherless  tradi- 
tion. The  astronomer  who  maps  the  skies  and  exhibits  to  us  the 
architecture  of  the  heavens,  exposing  to  the  admiring  gaze  of 
man  the  countless  millions  of  worlds  and  suns,  of  beauty  the  most 
transcendent,  who,  penetrating  to  the  remotest  depths  of  space 
reveals  the  existence  of  unnumbered  orbs  of  light,  of  vast  systems 
of  stars,  which  can  be  likened  only  to  the  sands  upon  the  seashore, 
also,  bears  witness  to  the  falsity  of  another  of  the  traditions 
of  our  childhood,  viz :  that  which  taught  us  to  believe  that  this 
earth  was  the  chief  result  of  the  creation;  that  the  sun  and  moon 
and  stars  were  made  to  give  light  for  and  to  adorn,  and  beautify 
it,  and  that  on  this  earth  alone,  was  man,  the  sole  recipient  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  placed.  Can  it  be  that  God  has  made  the  whole 
of  this  wondrous  creation,  these  millions  of  worlds,  and  on  this 
mere  mote,  amid  the  vast  ocean,  the  earth,  and  on  it  alone,  that 


49 

He  has  been  pleased  to  locate  the  image  of  Himself?  Astronomy 
answers,  No.  Spiritualism  believes — nay,  it  knows — that  intelli- 
gence, even  like  unto  the  Great  Creator  himself,  is  omnipresent; 
that  all  of  these  worlds  are  peopled,  or  are  in  the  process  of  per- 
fection to  that  state,  which  will  eventually  fit  them  for  the  habi- 
tation of  intellectual  beings.  That  intelligence  is  the  culmina- 
tion of  creation,  and  is  not  confined  to  any  one  orb  or  sphere, 
but  is  universal,  co-extensive  with  the  stupendous  works  of  God. 
Spiritualism  is  a  liberalizing  power,  she  takes  science  by  the  hand 
and  bids  her  go  on,  unravel,  investigate  and  develop  the  laws  of 
nature,  to  expand  the  human  intellect,  and  to  learn  what  she  can 
of  the  manifestations  of  God.  Spiritualism  does  not  meet  the 
investigator  as  the  Church  met  Capernicus  and  Galileo;  she  has 
no  prison  houses  for  the  men  of  genius,  for  the  leaders  of  the 
human  race ;  she  has  no  fear  that  scientific  knowledge  will  contra- 
dict the  sayings  of  some  musty  old  saint,  or  the  traditions  current 
in  the  barbarous  ages  of  the  world,  for  she  believes  that  God 
intended  man  should  learn,  should  raise  himself  up,  should  exalt 
his  moral  and  intellectual  faculties  to  the  highest  possible  stand- 
ard. The  truths  of  Nature,  the  revelations  of  the  Divine  are 
scattered  throughout  the  universe;  they  are  there  for  man  to 
grasp  and  understand — like  the  peaks  and  ranges  of  the  great 
mountains,  we  have  no  sooner  compassed  one  but  others  higher 
and  greater,  rise  in  majesty  and  grandeur  before  us ;  and  that  in 
this  order  knowledge  ever  continues  to  progress  until  we  reach 
even  to  the  confines  of  the  great  Infinite  mind. 

Such  is  a  glimpse  of  the  Spiritual  Philosophy.  Wider  fields 
and  broader  avenues  are  every  day  opening  to  the  view,  and  at  no 
remote  day  Spiritualism  will  demand  and  receive  from  the  judg- 
ment of  men  its  proper  place  among  those  philosophies,  which  are 
based  upon  and  supported  by  indisputable  facts. 

Chicago,  January,  1866. 

THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

JUN  24  ir 
UNIVfcBSlI*  Of  ILUN0I1 


A.  F.  CROSKEY.  GEO.  A.  SHUFELDT,  Jit. 


A.  F.  CROSKEY  &  CO., 


PROPRIETORS  OF  THE 


ARTESIAN  WELLS 


70  WASHINGTON  STREET,  CHICAGO. 


WILLIAM  T.  B.  READ, 


GENERAL     SUPERINTENDENT, 


At  the  Wells,  corner  of  CItic<(</o  and   Western  Avenues. 


RELMO-PHILOSOPHICAL 

84,  86  &  88  DEAKBOEN  STREET,. 

S.  S.  JONES,  President, 

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Address   GEO.  H.  JONES,  Secretary, 

P.  O.  Drawer  6325,  Chicago,  111. 

Also,  a  Liberal  Monthly  paper  for  Children  and  Youth,  entitled  the 

LITTLE  BOUQUET. 

This  journal  is  embellished  with  fine  wood  engravings,  illustrating  vari- 
ous themes  of  interest  presented.  An  especial  department  is  devoted  to  the 
Children's  Progressive  Lyceum  movement.  The  ablest  liberal  writers 
contribute  to  make  the  Bouquet  the  best  Children's  paper  in  the  land. 

Terms. — 81-00  per  year;  eleven  copies,  810.00.  Send  a  stamp  for  a 
specimen  copy. 

Address  GEO.  II.  JONES,  Secy,  P.  O.  Drawer  0325,  Chicago,  111. 


